Riches in Store

May 19, 2011 by desiringvirtue

Wondering where you can find more goodness on the riches of God’s grace that I talked about on Tuesday? Let me recommend Paul David Tripp’s Book “War of Words” to you. I cannot tell you how much I love this book! If you have ever struggled with speaking in a loving, redeeming way… (really, can any of you say that you have never struggled with this?) then I would plead with you to read this book. Here is a particularly encouraging excerpt:

Paul says that there are “glorious riches in Christ.” What is he talking about here? Peter captures it well when he says that “his divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). Not a lot, not more than most, but everything we need. Consider the words here. The verb in the passage (“has given”) is in the perfect tense, which indicates an action in the past that has a continuing result into the future. It means that Christ has already placed in my storehouse everything that I need. “To do what?” you may ask. Peter says, “everything for life and godliness.” I have been given not just everything I need for eternal life, but everything I need to live a godly life from the time I am saved until the time God takes me home to be with him!

Let the power of these words sink in. The Lord will never put you in a situation without giving you everything you need to do what he has called you to do.

Let’s say that you are a wife, who is in a very difficult converstaion with you husband. There are riches in your storehouse for this momet. Perhaps you ar a worker struggling with a very critical boss. Everything you need to speak in a godly way has already been given. Parent, you are facing another day with a rebellious and disrespectful teenager. All the riches that you need to move beyond your own hurt an danger and to function as an instrument of the Lord have been given. The Word has come and in his hands are glorious riches. His supply is the only thing that will tame the human tongue!

Yes, this is life altering news from the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Let’s live it.