“Each one of you is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” Ephesians 4:7

It is good, young people, to have the upward look in these evil days in which we live. We do not yet see all things subjected unto Christ, the Son. Yet, very really by faith we see Jesus crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death ( Heb. 2:9). God has perfected, raised to glory the author and finisher of our faith, the captain of our salvation. God did this in causing His Son to suffer, to taste death by the grace of Cod. And Jesus ascended up on high after he had been in the lowest depths of hellish suffering and agony, and having lain in the grave for three days and three nights.

This is the deep mystery of God, His fathomless grace, the history of salvation. This is world history, this death and resurrection of Christ.
Keep the course, run the race, and reach for the crown!

God has an eye for the entire body of Christ, but no less for each individual saint of his, be he young or old, black or white. For each of these it is gift, pure gift. We merited nothing! And this grace is from a certain point of view measureless. This is the great love, the rich mercy, the infinite condescending goodness of our God to us.

Grace is gift!

Yet it is measured out to us. Grace is not a haphazard thing, left to the free-will and the caprice of man. It is given according to the divinely established “measure” determined by God. This is the measure of Christ. And this measure has four dimensions, not three. It has length and breadth, height and depth (Eph. 3:18). Such is the love of Christ wherewith He loved us even to the end. It means to know the superabundance of the knowledge of the love of Christ. Yea, it means to be filled with all the fulness of God!!

Amazing measure!

It is this amazing grace that keeps one in proper perspective to God in Christ. O, then we see that it is one Lord in the church on earth and in heaven!, but this is where grace has been effective, giving one saving faith, cleansing baptism of the Spirit, as it subsumes us all under the one God and Father of the entire church. This God is upon all, through all and in all!

Each receives grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ which proceeds out of the Father and from His Son Jesus Christ.

How good it is, young people, to hear the evidence of this measure of the grace of Christ from the pen of one of our Jamaican students. His name is Leonard Williams. You will find his picture in the Acts of Synod, 1971, page 59. He stands next to my beloved brother and friend, Mr. Cecil Vander Molen, Pella, Iowa. The picture was taken by Rev. D. H. Kuiper. Brother Williams stands next to brother Vander Molen. They have different colored skins. Each has received grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. We gave each student a French Morocco leather- covered Bible, King James version for Christmas. Brother Williams echoes the sentiments of all the students in this letter in his inimitable Jamaican way.

Hope Hill District
White House, P.O.
Jamaica, W.I.

Dear friends in America,
Greetings from Leonard Williams to you and your family in the name of our LORD, Jesus Christ.
I wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year throughout your task of laboring for our Lord, hoping that when “he call you” you will be eager to see Him as He is, and to rest with Him in His kingdom.
We (are) hoping that when you receive my letter of thanksgivings for the gift, a Bible, it will bring joy into your heart.
I appreciate it very much in making outlines and in reading to get a specific meaning of the text. I am thankful for it; it helps a bit.
And I trust in the Lord that you will ever distribute gifts among the needy, which is acceptable to the Lord, to lead them to the straight and narrow way, as they are pilgrims and journeying home to God. We need the signal of His light.
God bless you increasingly.
Yours,
Leonard Williams

This letter from Leonard was unsolicited; it came spontaneously from his heart. It was an experience to see the glow and flush of joy and gratitude on Leonard’s face when we handed him his gift-Bible.

Not even do we see such thankfulness here when we distribute gifts.

Yes, the other students heard this letter read and said: include our thanks, too, unto the friends in the States in the Protestant Reformed Churches. They were embarrassed that they had overlooked to write such a letter.

We must keep perspective!

Each is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ; students in America and students here. Each receive grace according to the measure of Christ.

That keeps us humble, and only thus do we not become weary in well-doing.

By the way, young people, do you use your Bible in home and church, society and catechism to arrive at, what Leonard called “a specific meaning of the text”? Do you read the Bible accurately and studiously? That is too a measure of the gift of Christ.

Would your minister agree with the answer you give?

God grant you this measure of grace, and keep Biblical perspective.