Blood bought believers in the Lord Jesus Christ generally come first to understand the grace of God as the unmerited and undeserved favor God bestows through His beloved Son. We recognize the truth of Ephesians 2:8-9―“By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” This grace is the power of God to raise dead sinners to life.
More difficult to comprehend is the grace described in various places in the Scriptures, including 2 Corinthians 12:9―“He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” The grace set forth in this context is not the unmerited and undeserved favor of God found in salvation; here Paul is describing the divine enabling “grace,” or power, given to the believer through the Holy Spirit. In a word, it is grace for your race, the race you are to run by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.
When God said His grace was sufficient for the race set before us, He was also saying we were insufficient to run His race by ourselves. We were never designed to run alone. Before the fall, Adam and Eve were created dependent upon God for everything. We are mistaken if we believe our dependence upon God began when man fell in the garden. We were made by God for God, and the only thing that changed after sin entered the world was our desperate need for rescue by our Redeemer. The grace that puts us into His race at salvation is the same grace that keeps us in the race throughout our lives. The Bible makes it clear that we cannot complete in the flesh what began in the Spirit. Paul rebuked the Galatians for that very notion: “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:3.) No, we are not sanctified by our own power, but by His: “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).
It’s important to note that God’s grace is sufficient for the running of the race to completion―NOT the running of it without challenges! To be sure, everyone would prefer to run when the sky is blue, the clouds are fleecy, and the temperature is a comfortable 75 degrees. But we are called to run in all types of weather and over all kinds of terrain. God gives us precisely the amount of grace we need to run our race, one day at a time.
The weaker we are, the more God’s grace works in our lives. “When I am weak,” Paul said plainly, “then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10). The world glories in self-sufficiency; we are to glory in our Savior. At this level of living, we receive all the grace we need to face the challenges and struggles of the day. Trouble at the office . . . grace for the race. Difficulty in marriage . . . grace for the race. Rebellious children . . . grace for the race. Struggles in your single life . . . grace for your race. Challenges in your church . . . grace for your race.
Paul understood that God’s grace was completely sufficient to carry him through to the end of his race. You will remember that Paul was forced to live out his life with a “thorn,” after praying to God three times for its removal. Whatever this thorn was, it was painful enough that Paul asked God to remove it three times. Yet God chose instead to provide Paul with the grace he needed to carry this burden while ministering and writing nearly two-thirds of the entire New Testament. Instead of focusing his painful problem, Paul held fast to God’s providential power, given through the Holy Spirit.
Whatever burden you are carrying today, God has given you all the grace you need―if you will but look to Him. This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!
Grace for the Race 