How Your Ordinary Life Carries the Message of Grace

If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us.

{2 CORINTHIANS 4:1-10 MSG}

Our feet tromped up the slope of twirling vines, we were on a hunt to find the perfect pumpkin. Suddenly my girl stopped short next to a smallish gourd, marbled and irregular from laying on one side. “This is it,” she said, “we can put the face here,” drawing her finger across the scarred, odd-ball surface. I pointed to a few others that were rounder, more pleasing to the eye, but she insisted on her pick.

As we traveled back home with her special find, she asked why we were going to carve it, not wanting to alter her perfectly imperfect pumpkin. I told her the story of the jack-o-lantern, how we scoop out the slimy seeds—she squirmed and eew’d at the thought of putting her hands in there to scrape out the gooey insides—I told her how we carve holes for the eyes and a toothy grin, then place a candle in the bottom to let the light shine out.

We talked about how it is when we know Jesus. How he takes the yuck of our stinky old life as he gives us his life. How in the garden, the pumpkin just looks like a plain ol’ squash. But when Jesus gets hold of us, he transforms us into a new thing. How the trials and hurting times remind us of Jesus’s death on the cross. Then his light shines through us, just as he rose from the grave to give us new life. So now in the darkness and our brokenness, we carry God’s light into a dying world.

We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. {2 CORINTHIANS 4:10}

I have often said, “Who am I to carry the message of grace?” You might be thinking, as I sometimes do, “No one wants to hear about my broken-down, ordinary life.” Here’s the thing, if all you dig up is the gory parts of your story but it doesn’t point to God’s glory, then yeah, it’s going to look like a mess. But when the wreckage brings us to face Jesus on the cross, then we carry with us the power of His resurrected life.

Carry

Read the verse of the day:  2 CORINTHIANS 4:10

Look up today’s verse and read it in context of the chapter. Have a pen and paper ready. We will work through five steps.

1. Write down the Bible verse.
2. Find the key word and circle it.
3. Look up the definition of the word (notice how it is used in context).
4. If you are reading from a different translation of the Bible, which word is used instead?
5. Underline where you find a promise. Find the heart of this verse and mark it with a heart shape.

(Click here for How to Use a Word Study.)

Meditation

What does this verse reveal about God’s heart? How does this truth refresh your soul? Turn this into your prayer today.

Please leave a comment below to share something that touched you in today’s devotional.

Follow this series

You are reading part of the 31-day series from Weary to Worship. To see other days click on Write 31 Days 2017 from the top menu. Before you go…I have carefully curated a special guide when you subscribe to receive the daily devotions.

{Click here to download your free guide}

Photo by Corinne Kutz on Unsplash