I've been away from my blog for awhile
for which I hope that you'll forgive me. Having been presented with,
and directed to, new challenges and pathways, I desperately needed
some time to adjust and to begin to manage some new opportunities
that our Lord had planned as part of my journey even before He
created me. I cannot promise that I'll begin posting again with any
real regularity, but that I will be obedient to do so as the Lord
prompts - moments like now.
These changes in my life of late, I can
see are part of a much larger plan for my growth that has actually
been in place for a very long time. They're just another step,
another lesson and opportunity to learn and to demonstrate my
willingness to seek and to follow what He's ordained to be the
pathway of my life from the beginning. This being very much the same
as the individual course that He's willed and carefully planned for
every human being that He's ever given the gift of life to. As with
every pathway of opportunity that He's predestined, we have the
choice to follow or not while He watches with great hope and
expectation that we will rise to those moments of decision and find
our way obediently empowered with the gifts that He's made available
to help us navigate the way.
In moments of recent reflection in the
midst of some new and sudden chaos (not unlike that which the
disciples encountered in the form of a sudden storm while on the sea
in a small boat), I find not only a choice to panic or to remain
trusting of the power that has brought me this far, but the
revelation of a superior and Holy plan made by my Father. The
One who's intentions can only be seen as evil when viewed through
untrusting eyes. My Father's
plans and intentions are always designed to profit me, not in
worldly things that will only have a dated and perishable worth, but
in things that will shine for eternity as a glowing example of His
great love for me personally.
The lessons and ensuing tests that I've
more recently been able to see clearly and learn to embrace have
taken place over a long period of time. At times they've been hard
and deeply painful. In my own mind while enduring them, they've been
agonizingly slow. But our Father in His knowing wisdom doesn't rush
us as He teaches us things of vital importance because of His deep
and abiding love for us. He never pushes us faster than our ability
to absorb what He's trying to teach us and in some cases (mine not
withstanding) the lessons may take years to complete. One of mine has
been a life long and recurrent lesson in the values of humility ...
and grace.
To some, the word grace brings to mind
an eloquence in the methodology of movement, speech or thought. In
the mind of a disciple of Christ however, the definition is something
much more divine in its motivation and nature and something much more
powerful and capable in its effect to change hearts, minds and even
lives. In it's purest form it has a profound power to create awe when
it's truly recognized because of its stark contrast to worldly
thinking and values. It's become a rare commodity in the world in
general because of its price without worldly gain.
Grace isn't something that just
happens. It's not something that occurs without a conscious choice to
employ it and when it's given, by it's true definition it's given to
people who most often don't deserve it. I found numerous definitions
for the word grace, most of them worldly and lacking in understanding
of the value of the most precious form. Like most other things we
might experience that are truly pure and holy, its' definition has
become clouded, shrouded in a mist of obscurity and worldly
definition with the potential to become confused in worldly wisdom
and consequently - devalued.
For every good thing that is a part of
the essence of who our God is, our enemy has created a counterfeit
intended to pollute our thinking and detract from our understanding.
It's part of a campaign of misinformation, confusion and delusion
intended to keep us impotent even as we profess to represent and to
be disciples of the omnipotent God. Yet, as I walk the pathway of my
own life as designed by my loving Father, I find that by His
intention the truth is never hidden from those who are submissive to
His teaching and hunger for His perspective. In fact I've come to
recognize that every day I live, I am a child of grace born of His
great love and that for all eternity I will never be any more or any
less than a child of His unmerited favor.
I didn't even deserve to be born ...
and having been born ... I didn't deserve to live. Living ... I
deserved only to die. Every day that I live, I fall short of
deserving to live another day and having lived in my imperfection, with out question, I
certainly fall short of deserving to live eternally by my own merit. But faced with death, I
once again was allowed to make a choice that I didn't deserve to have
to accept a gift that I could never deserve - to live forever.
Who makes this possible for me? Not me,
I can't earn these things. I can't earn the right to deserve it. I
had no choice in the offering. The only choice I had was to humbly
accept it with a gratitude that deserves to be as eternal as the gift
itself, or like a fool - to reject it.
With these things in mind, forever
being awesomely indebted to the God who freely gives His undeserved
favor, how can I even consider withholding my own frail and far less
valuable favor from any of His children - whoever they might be.
However undeserving I may deem another to be, I know myself that (all
pretense and arrogance aside) I myself am no more deserving than
they. So in reverent and holy fear of my Sovereign Lord, how can I
ever allow myself to withhold grace from another.
If the Lord my God was willing to put
aside His own righteous indignation to allow Himself to show
me such great favor, then am not I subject to His judgement for
withholding my own puny favor from someone else no more undeserving
than I?
I could spell out some examples here of
what it means to show grace to other people in your life. But if I
did, it's likely that you would merely read what I wrote and move on.
I would also likely unintentionally limit what that means by my own
weak examples and definition. I would rather leave that to the Holy
Spirit and pray that my words here haunt your thinking. We serve a
living and moving God who is not limited by our definitions or
thinking. He deals with us individually and makes revelation as He
will to those in a one on one relationship with Him.
But remember ... that in every
situation and every circumstance, we have a choice to offer grace as
we have received it ...
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