Grace, Grace and More Grace

Thank God it doesn't stop. Grace permeates every day. God's unmerited favor abounds in our lives. It starts of course with God's forgiveness of our sins. The fact that the all powerful God who is just and merciful would form a plan with the trinity to preserve His people, overwhelms us. How could he love us with such fierceness in spite of our sin? In the plan of redemption every part of the trinity Father, Son, and Holy Ghost demonstrates loving care for those sinners God has chosen.

We have a four year old granddaughter named Grace. She understands very little of the meaning of her name but she loves her name anyway. Her granddad is a minister. On a couple occasions she has called him Pastor Poppop. During every sermon when he says the word grace, you know the kind of grace that should be in all capitols, Grace perks up and turns to a parent and says in a stage whisper, "Poppop said my name." , her voice filled with wonder. Wonder will continue to be her response to grace but slowly over the years she will realize that the word grace describes more than one little girl.

Although Grace is not the sum total of God's grace, she is a conduit that God honors by using her to reveal much grace to those around her. The other Sunday almost everyone had gone home. Grace was standing with a couple friends on the platform near the pulpit where her Poppop preaches. She shouted the words "God is a very great man." Her high pitched voice resounded confidently through the nearly empty sanctuary.

"No, no Gracie. He isn't a man. He's a spirit." I quickly corrected her.

Without changing her position or body language she changed only her words. This time also with great confidence Gracie's words again filled the sanctuary. "God is a very great spirit." Once was not enough and she repeated this great truth.

We laughed and made jokes about the inappropriateness of a girl preaching. That certainly would be true but there was still something very right about what we had witnessed. What question of the catechism was it? Oh, yes question four of the Westminster. The answer is "God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth." That would be quite a mouthful for a four year old. The time is coming when she will know these words, when the concepts will begin to have some meaning for her. For now "God is a very great spirit. " is a great place to start. She will then have the rest of her life to plumb the depths of words like infinite, eternal, and unchangeable and how they apply to the richness of God's character.

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