"That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus."
- Ephesians 2:7
There is a place in our walk with God where we can access his grace in such an overwhelming fashion. I'm talking about tapping into heavenly things through a power that is so far beyond our own natural strength and ability that it is staggering to the mind. When Paul told Timothy, "Stir up the gift of God which is in thee..." (2 Tim.1:6), he wasn't just talking about a single gift. He was talking about the full administrative powers contained within the entire scope of God's divine economy.
There are levels in our walk with God that can be attained through grace that can bring us into far more than what is conceivable. The gospel of John even tells us, "And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace" (John 1:16). Can we even begin to grasp what it must mean for all of us to have received his fullness! Think about how big God is. Think about the vastness of his power, his life, and his wisdom, and then ask yourself, how any one of us could hold such majesty and glory within ourselves! We can't. It's absolutely impossible. It would be just as impossible for any one of us to contain all of who God is as it would be for us to think we could drink in the entire Atlantic Ocean. And yet we know that "It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell" (Col. 1:19; 2:9), and because we are in him, we have access to that fullness measure by measure, increment by increment, as we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18). That means God's grace is compounded toward us as we grow and expand in our understanding of who we are in him.
When Paul spoke of stirring up the "gift of God" he used the Greek word CHARISMA. We know that the word for grace is CHARIS and that this word CHARISMA involves all that is contained within the economy of grace. It far exceeds any single act or work of grace. It is more than what is involved within any one individual spiritual endowment. So for Paul to tell Timothy to stir up the entire scope of God's grace would be like accessing all that heaven can afford. For any one of us to operate on that level would take more than a lifetime to accomplish, which is why Paul, who wrote nearly two-thirds of the New Testament, said even of himself: "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:13, 14).
The point that Paul was making wasn't that he would one day arrive at everything grace could afford him. He was simply saying that in his determined purpose he was going after all that was attainable. Paul knew there was far more to walk in than even what he was walking in, which brings us right back to the point that John made in his gospel: "...and grace for grace."
Think of this process of growing in grace as unfolding something that is indefinite. With each layer you peel back there is something new revealed that you never considered before, and there is no end to your discovery. I think Paul understood that grace was so vast that there was no way he could ever exhaust its value or reach its capacity in his lifetime. That is why he told the church at Ephesus. "That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace..." (Eph 2:7). This word exceeding means something that is far surpassing. Over in the first chapter he said: "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace" (Eph 1: 7). But here he reaches beyond the mere riches of his grace to describe what only the ages to come may reveal - the "exceeding riches" of his grace. All that we have now is based upon the riches of his grace. What awaits us in eternity will be according to the "exceeding riches" of his grace.
So how can one exhaust what is inexhaustible? How can one reach the end of what is unending? We have only just begun to explore the possibilities that are within the range of what grace affords us. There are no limits to what we can accomplish if we purpose to pursuit what grace holds for us. May we make this our ultimate quest until we have drank all that we can of this mighty ocean of God's immeasurable and unlimited favor.*
