Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 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 — even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you — so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 Corinthians 1:3–9
When I first started teaching at Hope, I didn’t have a reason to stop working at the end of the day. There was so much to do and absorb. It was exhilarating, yet exhausting. The pace started to feel normal, and I believed I could handle it alone. Nowhere in that flow left room for God’s comfort and grace.
But then I became a mom, and my workflow was upended. There was no explaining to an infant that I had to write one more email before his bottle. Despite my desire, work had to be finished for the day. However, the intentional decision to pause and yield to my child was exactly what I needed. I began to look forward to this outside force telling me to stop. It showed me that the path was unsustainable and not God’s desire.
Thank you God “… that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge” (v. 5). Read that again. In HIM. Not me. Not you. We cannot be the provider of our sufficiency.
We know that grace and peace are given, but in order to adequately receive it, we usually forget to yield to God. One definition of “yield” is to submit or surrender to another. It’s one thing to stop, but when we stop and then yield to God, we can be comforted and enriched by Him. If we fail to yield, we are saying that we don’t want to fully let go of the reins, that we still want some control.
“Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed” (v. 7). Notice that the waiting isn’t the end. We are to be expectant as we wait, to anticipate and actively yield to God. We will often ask for grace or express our discomfort. But then we fail to move into the next step, which is to yield. Yielding isn’t passive, it’s actively surrendering so that God can “…sustain you to the end” (v. 9).
Prayer
Impress upon my heart, Lord, the desire to yield to your comfort. Help me to admit that I don’t have the ability to be my own savior, that being self-sufficient is not your desire for me. Help me to yield to Your love today, to be enriched through Your grace and comfort. Amen.
Lindsey Hanson is an assistant professor of dance at Hope College.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.