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The beautiful Door...

We need strength. Right? I know I do. We are going to face whatever we have to face, and in this world of woe, odds are, we are going to face difficult days, troubling circumstances, and even in the best of lives, hard work and times of whelming grief. To face life, we need peace with God and strength from Him.

In the midst encouraging his fellow worker in the Gospel, the Apostle Paul says, "You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus..." (2 Timothy 2:1 ESV)

There it is; it leapt off the page at me. That phrase seemed both inviting and strange: "...be strengthened by the grace..." It was the reminder I needed. Grace SEEMS like an odd muscle-maker, but it's perfect.

You see, dear friends, grace is the unmerited favor; it's unearned kindness. The "grace that is in Christ Jesus" is amazing because Jesus is the beautiful door to the Godhead for we who believe (see John 10:7-10). Jesus paid our sin debt, took on and defeated death and sent the Spirit into the world to call and fill believers. Jesus invites us to know Him, to be our door to all the things of God.

And, it's all grace...
It's all unmerited favor...
It's all unearned kindness...

Jesus is the beautiful Door, and He opens to any who would come to Him all the things of God.

And, yes, in that grace that is in Christ Jesus, there is strength. God's muscle is at work through that grace that is in Christ Jesus toward we who believe. That grace grants to us the presence of God. For certain, that IS the strength we need.

Like Timothy needed, and as Paul urged, so to you this Timothy urges, "You then, my [friends], be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus."