1 Corinthians 1:4-5 “ I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge”

I was returning from work last week. The sky was overcast and the semi-truck in front of me was spraying my windshield with the standing water in the road. However despite all the gray above and gray before me, there was a bright point to the trip. There was a small, nearly perfectly circular break in the clouds where the sun shone through and it was brilliant. The entire sky was a depressing gray except for that one point. That point enriched the sky, it enriched my trip, and it made an otherwise dreary view tremendous. God does that with our lives. When His light breaks through the cloud cover of our thoughts and emotions, of our likes and dislikes, our entire lives are enriched and made better – more than better, our lives are made glorious!

God has offered us gifts should we so desire them and his grace is that free gift that changes lives given to those who desire it. It comes at a price, though. God's grace means our repentance and requires us to reject this world and everything in it that is not God. This very computer at which I type must glorify God through my use, otherwise it is worth nothing. Our speech likewise must begin to reflect God and be more of Him than of the world. Fortunately, God does not require that we change it on our own because He enjoys working with us and helping us. As we grow in Christ, our speech changes. We don't necessarily become smarter or more intelligent, but we become better able to express ourselves over time. We lose the foul language of the world and learn to let even the words we use be an expression of our love for Him. As God continues His work in our lives, our knowledge of the world, and what is or what is not changes; we begin to look at things in a new light - the light of God. We begin to base our understanding off what God has said, and this changes our interpretation of whatever we are thinking on. The world does not – can not – agree with God, and so they view any knowledge and understanding gained from combining what we know with our base foundation of God as being stupid and worthless. Our values are different, our morals are different, our very reason to do anything is different and this becomes our evidence of God's grace in our lives. Without Him, we could not be able to live such a life as He has enabled us to live.

Just like I enjoy going for random drives in the countryside, or taking my bike down a nearly forgotten trail, or even reading a good book, God's hobby is the changing of people's lives for the better. He loves it and He excels at it. His only requirement is that we want it and are willing to let Him.

Redeemed, restored, forgiven,
Through Jesus’ precious blood,
Heirs of His home in heaven,
Oh, praise our pardoning God!
Praise Him in tuneful measures
Who gave His Son to die;
Praise Him Whose sev’nfold treasures
Enrich and sanctify.