Partakers of grace

I’ve been meditating this morning on Philippians 1, but especially on verse 7.

It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. (ESV)

“Partakers of grace with me.”

I think it’s interesting how “grace” is used in this chapter and the kinds of grace Paul talks about. But the words “with me,” strike me.

We could see them in two ways.

Paul might be saying, “Not just I, but you too are a partaker of grace.” And that’s probably how he means it.

But he could also be saying, “You’re a partaker of God’s grace. You definitely need it every day. But you know, I’m a partaker of grace too. I need God’s grace just as much as you do.”

And I think Paul would definitely have affirmed that.

I will be honest. It’s easy for me when I’m writing for my blog or preparing a message to preach to think about other people that I know. “They need to hear this.”

That may be true, but the danger comes when I stop looking at myself. The Bible stops being a mirror for me. And the result is I forget my need for grace.

But I desperately need it too.

God, open my eyes to my desperate need for you.