Ecclesiastes 12:10

  This time of year we think about ‘counting our many blessings’. It's easy to look at all of our stuff all our friends and family, our homes, our jobs and understand the need to be grateful.   Yet do we realize that our greatest blessing might just be what we don’t have? If we are free from disease. If we are not at war. When we don’t suffer physical persecution for our faith. When we don’t have fear of our government. When we don’t have toxins in our water or poisons in our food.   When we don’t have crimes overrunning our streets. When we don’t have want for food or supplies.   We have it so good because we don’t have so much that others do. And for that we should be thankful.     Thankful and generous. One can’t truly be grateful for what he has if he is not willing to share that with those that do not.     If we count what we have and all the things we are not burdened with, it would be asinine not to realize tha...

A teacher in Bible class I attended recently pointed out something I had never noticed before in Paul’s writings. Every book he writes begins and ends with a greeting of grace. For example, he says “ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ ” at the start of his letter to the Romans (Romans 1:7).  He ends his letter to Timothy with “ The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you .” (2 nd Timothy 4:22) The word grace was a common expression among the Greek speakers. To some it may be thought of as only an expression, such as how people today use “God bless you” or “have a blessed day”, but to Paul it was so much more. He understood the vital nature that grace has in the life of a believer. Without grace we could not be saved (Ephesians 2:5, Titus 2:11).  Grace strengths our hearts (Hebrews 13:9). Our words are to be measured by grace (Ephesians 4:29, Colossians 4:6). It allows us to be capable of good works (2 nd Corinthians 9:8). Grace is ...