God: Graciousness

God: Graciousness

Beggar and Giver
Sir Walter Raleigh was continuously submitting requests to Queen Elizabeth on behalf of convicts. Once the Queen said to him: "Sir Walter, when will you stop being a beggar?" "When Your Majesty ceases to be a giver," was the wise answer. Oh, how wonderful to know that God is the inexhaustible source of blessing!

Give Thyself First
Socrates had a trusted servant who, seeing others giving presents to his master, came to him one day and said, "Because I have nothing else to give you, Master, I here give you myself." Socrates saw the earnestness of the servant and said, "Do so." After bestowing upon him gifts, and advancing him to the head of his servants, he called him one day and said, "I now give you back to yourself better than when I received you." God bestows rich spiritual gifts on the one who gives his life to Him. The King with the Open Hand
There is a legend told of an ancient kingdom whose sovereign had just died, and whose ambassadors were sent to choose a successor from twin infants. They found the little fellows fast asleep, and looking at them carefully, agreed that it was difficult to decide, until they happened to notice one curious small difference between them. As they lay, one infant had his tiny fists closed tight; the other slept with his little hands wide open. Instantly they made their selection of the latter. The legend very properly concludes with the record that, as he grew up in his station, he came to be known as the King with the Open Hand. We could say the same thing of our God. His hand is always open to give.

God's Nature
A little girl and her mother were reading the New Testament one morning when they came to John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Stopping for a moment in the reading the mother asked, "Don't you think it is wonderful?" The child, looking surprised, replied in the negative. The mother, somewhat astonished, repeated the question, to which the little daughter replied, "Why, no, Mommy, it would be wonderful if it were anybody else, but it is just like God." The little girl was absolutely right. It is God's nature to give freely of His grace and of His mercy.

More to Follow
A rich man and a poor man were both members of a certain congregation. The rich man desired to do an act of benevolence, so he sent a sum of money to a friend, asking him to give it to the poor man as he thought best. The friend sent him only twenty-five dollars and said in the note: "This is yours. Use it wisely. There is more to follow." After a while he sent another twenty-five dollars and said, "More to follow." Again and again, he sent money to the poor man, always with the cheering words, "More to follow." So it is with the wonderful grace of God. There is always more to follow. We shall never be able to exhaust it.

Heaven Is a Part of My Garden
A philosopher was asked by a friend to show him the splendid garden of which he was always boasting. He led him to a bare rocky space behind his house. "Where is your garden?" the friend asked. "Look up," said the philosopher; "heaven is a part of my garden." Every good gift in the garden really comes from above; should God command the clouds to send no rain, the earth would soon be like iron. Heaven shields, broods over, and enriches every fruitful plot of ground. Turn, then, your whole being fully toward the sunshine of God's grace, and pray that the garden of your soul may always be as ready to receive heavenly blessing as is the garden around your dwelling. When, by God's enablement, you become a planter, remember that the seed is God-made, and when you become a waterer, remember that the water is also God-made.

God's Offer of Grace
Picture a table set with delicious food. Hungry people are gathered around it. God has prepared the food. It is free. If there are some who sit at this table and do not taste the food, it is their own fault. To be in the midst of plenty and to go hungry is certainly unreasonable behavior. Yet that is what is happening all the time. God's bounty is not taken advantage of. God provides spiritual food, but He will not force it on anyone. Man must reach out and partake of it.

Bursting Boilers
It was in a large prayer meeting that a rather pompous man arose and said, "Brethren, I am on board the old ship Zion, and I am sailing heavenward, and I am going at the rate of sixteen knots; I shall soon sail up the harbor of the blessed." Then another man with more arrogance rose and said, "I, too, am on board the old ship Zion, and I am sailing heavenward at the rate of thirty knots; I shall soon sail up the harbor of the blessed," and he sat down. Then another man with even more arrogance got up and said, "I, too, brethren, am on board the old ship Zion. It is a steamship with a terrific horsepower, and on this steamship I shall soon sail up the harbor of the blessed," and he sat down. Then a plain Christian woman rose and said, "Well, brethren, I have been going to heaven seventy years, and I have been going afoot; I suppose from the looks of things that I shall have to go afoot the rest of the way. If some of you people that are going by steam don't look out, you'll burst your boilers." As a dear saint of God said, let us make our boasting as follows: "I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I wish to be, I am not what I hope to be; but by the grace of God I am not what I was." Never leave the grace of God out.

God's Grace
A convict, who has just finished his term of penal servitude, wishes to lead an honest life. He comes to a man who has a large jewelry establishment and who requires a night watchman. He is engaged to watch this building through the quiet hours of the night when he has everything under his care and every opportunity to rob his employer. On the first evening, he meets one of his old companions, who questions him, "What are you doing here?"
"I'm the night watchman."
"Over this jeweler's shop?"
"Yes."
"Does he know what you are?"
"No, keep quiet; if he knew, I should be dismissed."
"Suppose I let it out that you are a returned convict!"
"Oh, please don't; it would be my last day here, and I wish to be honest."
"Well, you have to give me some money to keep quiet."
"Very well, but don't let anyone know."
Thus the poor man would live in fear, lest it should come to the ears of his employer what his previous character had been.
Let us suppose, however, that instead of the employer's engaging the man in ignorance of his character, he went to the convict's cell and said, "Now I know you-what you are, what you've done, every robbery you've committed, but I am about to give you a chance of becoming honest. I'll trust you as my night watchman over my valuable goods." The man is faithful at his post. He meets an old companion who threatens to inform his employer about his past. He asks, "What will you tell about me?"
"That you were the ringleader of thieves."
"Yes, but my master knows all that; he knows me better than I know myself."
Of course, this silences his companion forever. Jesus Christ is the only Master who is "full of grace and truth." Jesus Christ is gracious to you and me because He knows the truth about us, that we deserve nothing but hell. But through His grace heaven can be our share, if we personally and by faith appropriate His grace. An Example of Plenty
A poor woman who had had a hard struggle to make ends meet, and knew what it meant to have very little food, was taken on an outing to the seaside. She was delighted with the scene. As she looked out over the vast expanse of waters, tears filled her eyes and she exclaimed, "Thank God for a sight of something there is enough of!" That is how it is with the soul when it gets its first vision of the infinite fullness of God's grace in Christ. His grace is quite enough for the soul's every need. The First Step to Heaven
Sometimes I go to the store to buy cheese. Almost invariably I ask for a taste before I make my purchase, and the grocer very cheerfully gives it to me. Why is he willing to do this? Because he knows that his cheese is of superior quality. God does not hesitate to have us taste His grace. He is sure we shall want more once we have had a sampling of it. Now would it not be stupid of me to stand before the grocer's counter and, without sampling his cheese say to him, "No, I don't think I'll take any of your cheese. It is not good." I would have no right to pronounce an opinion about something of which I have no personal knowledge. The valid challenge of the grocer is "Taste and see." We have often done that. We did not want to eat, but we finally decided to take a taste, and then we wanted to keep on eating. Oh, that initial step, that initial experience is so important! The first step is most of the way to heaven. Our Gracious Savior
God's attention is attracted by our weakness. A mother responds in exactly the same way. She loves all her children, but if she has one who is weak and sickly, while the others are healthy and strong, her care and attention are lavished upon the one who has most need of her protection, most claim upon her love. Her other children are able to take care of themselves, but the little delicate one, whose life hangs almost by a thread, appeals by his very weakness to her strongest instincts of maternal love. So it is with our gracious Savior. He loves us, oh, so tenderly because of our very weakness. Not a Rascal by God's Grace
A good Scotsman called to see Rowland Hill, that eminent English clergyman who did so much for the betterment of his countrymen. Without saying a word, he sat still for some five minutes looking into Rowland Hill's face. At last Mr. Hill asked him what held his attention. Said the Scotsman, "I was looking at the lines of your face." "Well, what do you make out of them?" "Why," said he, "that if the grace of God hadn't been in you, you would have been the biggest rascal living!" Do We Question the Blessings?
A young girl in an institution for the handicapped was approached by a well-meaning but tactless woman who wrote on her slate, "My dear, why are you deaf and dumb?" Tears came into the girl's eyes. Then, after a pause, taking the pencil and slate she wrote, "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." She could very well have asked in turn, "Why do you hear and speak?" Isn't it strange that we ask all our questions about life's sufferings and not about its blessings? Do we take it for granted we deserve them?

Sufficiency of God's Grace
A man stood up in a meeting and facing the preacher who had spoken about the sufficiency of God's grace, said: "You can talk like that about Christ-that He is dear to you, that He helps you-but if your wife were dead as my wife is, and you had some babies crying for their mother who would never come back, you could not say what you are saying." A little later the preacher lost his wife in an accident. After others had conducted the funeral service, he stood by the casket, looked down into the face of the silent wife and mother and said, "The other day when I was preaching, a man said I could not say Christ was sufficient if my wife were dead and my children were crying for their mother. If that man is here, I want to tell him that Christ is sufficient. My heart is broken, my heart is crushed, my heart is bleeding, but there is a song in my heart, and Christ put it there. And if that man is here, I tell him though my wife is gone and my children are motherless, Christ comforts me today." That man was there, and down the aisle he came and stood beside the casket and said, "Truly, if Christ can help in a time like this, I surrender to Him." Not Rejected
Once a large and beautiful block of marble was brought from the Greek island of Paros. Out of this marble it was planned to chisel a statue of the great Napoleon. The famous sculptor, Canova, surveyed it with critical eyes before commencing work upon it and discovered a slight red mark traversing the block. To the unskilled it was an insignificant matter, but Canova said, "I cannot work upon this; it has a flaw. It is not perfectly pure and white. I will not lay my chisel upon it." Therefore he rejected it. Think what imperfections the omniscient eye of God detects in the purest of human characters. Yet, He does not reject us on this account. How humbling, indeed, is this thought!

I Am What I Am
Two or three years before the death of that eminent servant of Christ, the Rev. John Newton, an aged friend and brother in the ministry called on him at breakfast. Family prayer followed, and the portion of Scripture for the day was read to him. In it occurred the verse, "By the grace of God, I am what I am" (1 Corinthians 15:10). After the reading of this text, he uttered this affective soliloquy: "I am not what I ought to be-ah! how imperfect and deficient! I am not what I wish to be. I abhor what is evil, and I would cleave to what is good. I am not what I hope to be. Soon, soon, shall I put off mortality, and, with mortality, all sin and imperfection. Yet though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be, I can truly say I am not what I once was-a slave to sin and Satan; I can heartily join with the apostle and acknowledge, 'By the grace of God, I am what I am.' "