WHEN THE UNQUALIFIED QUALIFIES

"May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." 2 Corinthians 13:14

Oh what a blessed ending! As he closes his second letter to the congregation at Corinth, Paul, influenced by the Holy Spirit wrote this comforting benediction. Maybe we should unpack the layers and see what is in there for us, and, how we can apply these in our day to day life. There are three distinctive layers namely; grace, love and fellowship. Instate of beginning with grace, let us begin with love.

The Love of God

The Bible teaches us that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) We also learn in Romans 3: 23 that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” All have indeed sinned. There is not one who escaped or can escape the sinfulness of sin. According to Romans 6:23, the obvious verdict for our condition was death. We were justifiably condemned to death. There was nothing we could do in our power to escape this pending penalty.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) God loved us so much that He would rather sacrifice His own Son on the cross that we may live and not die. Paul wanted the Corinthian believers to never lose focus of this incredible love.

This truth goes for us today. God is reminding us about His unconditional love towards us. Sometimes we feel so unloved that we lose all hope to live. Yes, true, you may be unloved by many people, maybe, because of what you did or how you conduct your life now or in the past. But God loves you in that condition. He loves you when there is nothing in you to attract anyone’s love. He loves you when there is nothing in you that merits His love.  

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) However; His love is rendered meaningless when we ignore what He did for us.  It becomes ineffective if we choose not to receive it and be forgiven. The world forgives no one, but, God forgives all who come to Him and confess their wrongs.

The grace of our Lord

Grace is an unmerited favor. It is when the unqualified, qualifies - when the unpardonable is pardoned. I think its ultimate expression will be when a convicted criminal is set free. Jesus died on behalf of humanity. He died for the sin He did not commit, and, we were set free for the price we did not pay.

Before the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, there was no grace on earth. Only the law determined one's verdict. This was “an eye for an eye - a tooth for a tooth” period. There was no grace before Jesus. There is no grace without Jesus. ”And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:16, 17)

The fellowship of the Holy Spirit

Above all these; we can now fellowship with the Holy Spirit. He is our Comforter, our very present Friend at every turn. We can talk to Him about everything concerning our lives. He has been sent to walk side by side with us. Oh how wonderful God is for sending us the third Person of the Holy Trinity! 

There are four things that Jesus said the Holy Spirit will do for us;

1.  He will teach us all things (John 14:26)
2.  He will remind us all that Jesus said (John 14:26)
3.  He will guide us into all truth (John 16:13)
4.  He will reveal the future to us (John 16:13)

Is there any reason you cannot make Him Master of Ceremonies over your life? Is there any reason you cannot make Him the Project Manager of your life? When He runs the programme, all goes well. When He manages the project He meets the deadlines.

Conclusion

Every time you hear this benediction pronounced over you; remember how much God loves you (how He demonstrated His love for you), remember how through Jesus you can escape the punishment of death for your sins, and what life you can have when you fellowship with the Holy Spirit.