Walking The Beat

GRACE RECEIVED, GRACE GIVEN

At what point do you make significant changes in your life? And why?

The past few years have been years of learning lessons I would have preferred to learn in other ways. Actually, I would love to have a read a book on it or attended a seminar. But, alas, it came another way. And it has all been God's grace.

Cheryl and I have had to do some things we would not have chosen. In so doing, we have learned that God's provision is not always the elimination of struggle nor is it always to provide after something happens. Sometimes his provision is in advance. It has been so with us. In the process I learned in my heart what I knew in my head. God is sovereign (there's a lot more to that term than election) and everything I possess is from him and belongs to him. I have added to my prayer life a prayer for wisdom to know how to steward the resources God gives.

The nature of the ministry God has given me requires travel. I have been in many, many congregations in my ministry. I have noticed an obvious difference in the lives and attitudes of people in those congregations. You can see it in the hallway and hear it in the conversations.

Let's take this beyond salvation. We as people who follow Christ understand that our salvation is by the grace of God. No true Christian believes their salvation is earned. But let's take it to receiving God's grace after some type of failure.

Failure can be in many arenas. The most obvious is when one fails in sin. There is forgiveness and restoration. Another arena is when one fails in an effort. This is not sin. It is simply a failure. But very often God's grace brings solace, lessons learned, and another opportunity.

Here is the observable difference. The experience of grace becomes the talking points of the recipient. Somewhere in the conversation is a heartfelt and obvious gratitude for the grace of God. Sometimes that is in another chance, sometimes in forgiveness. But the person is settled, at peace, and Christ-focused.

Those who know about grace but have not really internalized that they need grace will mention it and give the obligatory tip of the hat. Then they are off to other things.

The friendliest people in church are those who live in God's grace. The most hateful and arrogant are those who live in their own works.

Some years ago I read that all the religions of the world can be summarized in two words: "Do" and "Done". This is indeed a simple understanding, but nonetheless accurate. We trust a risen Christ whose work of redemption on our behalf is finished and we enter that salvation and life by trusting him.

Those of us who have received God's grace should live and extend that grace. Freely we have received. May we freely give.

 

NOTABLE BIRTHS IN 2008

I have been reading with interest some "prophecies" for 2009 and even some beyond that. I have read many "notable deaths" of famous people who passed in 2008.

In the spring of 2008, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency delivered a speech in which he described three trends distinguishing the 21st century from the 20th. He listed them as (1) exploding populations of poor places, (2) growing divisions between the United States and Europe, and (3) China's emergence.

Each of these have implications far beyond our little denominational tiffs and church wars. In fact, each of them are opportunities for the people of God, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, to be salt and light in our finest hour. The issues of poverty and health, peacemaking, and the sharing of the gospel of Jesus Christ weave their way through these problems.

Certainly the need is not always the call, but it is always the opportunity. We know who died in 2008. But who was born?

Is it too out-of-the-box to pray and dream that in 2008 there was one born who will one day look at their world of population and poverty explosions and find ways to alleviate some human need? Could God have given us one in 2008 who will be a Godly world leader by mid-century?

How many church leaders were born in 2008? Who will educate them and where will they serve? Will they have to do as many of their parents and leave the church of their childhood in order to find a place of service? Will their parents reject their love for the same Lord simply because they don't love the same worship format? Could theirs be the generation of reconciliation? Progress is being made even now, so let's pray that is not even an issue for them.

How may health professionals were born in 2008? Could it be that one or more may find a cure for some of the world's dreaded diseases?

Maybe one born in 2008 will develop not just an alternate form of fuel, but even an alternate form of transportation! Or perhaps one will pioneer an alternate form of exchange that will alleviate much poverty.

Yes, these are dreams. But is a dream inside the will of God impossible? Some may say this is utopia. Not really. People and problems, even the poor, will be with us always. But our role is be salt and light and do our part in our niche to serve God and improve our world.

So, as we close 2008, I am not thinking so much of who passed (although they are important and should be noted) as I am thinking of those who discovered this world in 2008. Let's pray for them and perhaps some of us, or at least our children, will get to see what God does with the 2008 "models".