There I stood in front of my elementary school classmates. I must have been all of nine years old. I had a big ole grin on my face and in my hands, I was holding a trophy. It was time for Show and Tell. My teacher told all of us to bring something to class that was special to us, show it to the class and then tell why it was so special. I chose to bring my trophy to the Show and Tell because it was not just your everyday, average trophy! That previous weekend my basketball team the LA Lakers (to which my mom had purchased some gold and purple shoes to match my uniform) had defeated our nemesis the Boston Celtics for the recreation tournament league championship. This was BIG TIME, Baby! As I was telling my class how we had won the championship game. I could hear in my head Queen singing,
“We are the champions, my friend
And we'll keep on fighting till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions of the World.
The years of Show and Tell in front of my elementary classmates are long gone. And who knows where that trophy is today? It’s likely collecting dust in a box in my mom’s house in the attic. But during this time of prayer and fasting I have been pondering a different type of trophy. The realization and the reminder that I am a trophy of God’s grace! The apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians says it this way,
“so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
I must confess this has always made me uncomfortable. To be a trophy of God’s grace requires me to receive what Paul describes as his kindness. The way my mind naturally works is I don’t want to receive something, but I want to do something. Give me an action plan! Give me a step-by-step approach! Give me a check list! Just tell me what I need to do, and I am on board. What a friend said to me the other day resonated, “I am trying to keep all the rules and checking all the boxes (doing the right behavior), but I feel like I am dying on the inside (overwhelmed and exhausted).” Have you been there?
During these 40 Days of Prayer and Fasting I have been convicted that I am still uncomfortable with grace. This shows up in my life during times of failure, but also in times of trying to manage the circumstances of everyday life. For me, it is easier to give others charity, rather than receive charity for myself. So I have found myself in this season of fasting and prayer in a posture of repentance, specifically repenting of my wanting to contribute (I want desperately to do something for it) to God’s grace instead being a recipient (receive it) of God’s grace. Most days receiving grace in my own mind seems too good to be true.
I have found encouragement during this time of fasting and prayer in Paul’s word in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness.”
He never expected us to have it all together! We don’t show how good we are and then God gives grace. It’s the exact opposite, we can’t seem to get it together and God shows up, giving us grace. Self-sufficiency is replaced with grace-sufficiency. Grace is like water flowing down to the lowest parts and providing endurance, strength, and satisfaction. Oh, the irony that most days my mind struggles to grasp, in my state of not being Ok that is when I am Ok. It’s no wonder John Newton had only one word to describe grace. “Amazing!” Amazing Grace is something to Show and Tell about as it reminds us we are a trophy of His Grace.
“The Lord hath promised good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.”