Grace For Good Work

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; (2 Corinthians 9:8)

The best instruments have the potential for the sweetest music. The best tools can do the best work when wielded with the greatest skill. The best projects often depend upon the right timing and the right resources. But some of the worst people play the best instruments. Their music is not pleasing to the world but is offensive. Some of the worst mechanics can have the best tools. They prey upon the naïve and unsuspecting who trust them to do a good job and treat them honestly. No matter how impressive their tools, their work is despicable when their heart is not right. Some of the most impressive building projects have destroyed the people who built them because the motive was to glorify the designer or the builder or the owner. To do good work, you need the resources and help of a good God.
I, for one, have been tested by trying to do some good things without relying and depending upon the help of a good God. I can tell you about many experiences that on the surface seemed like they were pure in motive and had a good goal in mind only to realize that I was trying to glorify self. In times like these I have failed miserably to make a difference in the Kingdom of God. Have you ever been in these kinds of predicaments where all that is left at the end of your work is weariness? Maybe you think that every time you attempt some good work for God it will end up the same way. And you have become so discouraged that you stopped serving God. If this describes your life, you already know that you are not living the abundant life that Jesus promised.
God can be glorified in those painful and purifying experiences. The good news is that God provides abundant resources for abundant living. I call it “large living”. I'm not talking about taking huge bites of everything the world can offer in the way of pleasure. I'm talking about the resource of grace that never runs out. The grace that covers a multitude of failures. The grace that is available to us from the heart of a gracious God who says if we work for His team, and work for His purpose, play by His rules, He will provide us with abundant grace. That, my friends, is good stuff!!! Some thoughts on the passage today:

I. GOD IS ABLE TO GIVE GRACE.
He is the source of grace. And since He is the God of grace, He shares it with His people. Grace is not available just anywhere. It only comes from God. Grace says God loves us because it is His nature to love.

II. GRACE IS GIVEN IN ABUNDANCE.
His grace is sufficient. It is always enough. It is never rationed and held until we earn it. We cannot earn it by our good works. Grace is given in God-sized measure. It is always given in abundant amounts because God gives it to share. We cannot share what we have not received.

III. GRACE IS REQUIRED FOR GOOD WORKS.
The only good works are God's works. These are eternal works. Every other work, however well-intentioned, that comes from the mind of man will not stand for eternity. These man-made works are those that fade in time and do not carry over into eternity. Without God's grace as our resource, we cannot build those things that eternal kingdoms are built upon. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are the fruits set aside for preserving people. These preserved people make up the Kingdom of God. And we cannot ever dwell there without receiving His grace. A transformed life is God's good work of grace.
Those that God will use, He purifies... so they can testify.