God’s grace

No More Lazy Grace!

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For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. Romans 12:3

Do you battle with fear sometimes? I definitely do! I love God’s promises in

The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear? Psalm 27:1

But there are times when I just wish that God would deal with my fear by His grace. But just like Adam and Eve’s failure in the garden we have all been bungling things up when we believe God is going to work things out by grace, without our participation. What we are calling grace; God may call simple laziness. The issue is not God’s lack of grace; but our lack of action. Yes, of course God is sovereign, almighty and all knowing; but for His own purposes He designed us not to be. I often pray for God to remove my fears; but Jesus said, “Do not let your heart be troubled…” In other words He put me in the driver’s seat and contrary to the song it’s me -not Jesus- who has to take the wheel!

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1 NIV

So when I asked myself, “How did Jesus deal with fear?”  I remembered the cross. There in humiliation and pain He endured. His confidence was not based on some heroic stoicism, but in the confidence that despite his abandonment and suffering, there was a joy that lay ahead. At the sixth hour, as His strength reached its end and His vision grew dark but He chose to believe in something He could not see – our salvation and forgiveness. So in those moments when I am afraid, I will remember that He was afraid too.  But three days later, on a morning He could not see from the cross, the stone rolled away and He rose and sorrow and mourning flew away!

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The New People

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For the entire ten years we lived in a rural Pennsylvania community we were considered the “New People”. I felt better when I learned that there were other “New People” just up the road from us.  They were from New Jersey and had lived there since the 1950’s!

In a more serious light the hysteria and anger over “New People” (Mexicans, Arabs, Muslims, Asians) has culminated in the most recent massacre in New Zealand. How we as Christians to respond must be linked to how Jesus responded to hatred and prejudice.  Jesus loved the immigrant, the stranger and amazingly so even His enemies. Jesus was not angry with Samaritans who had come from another place and worshipped differently than Jews.  Jesus did not protest about the brutal Roman rule or even agitate for the removal of Herod, who had murdered his cousin John the Baptist. Maybe Jesus was accepting of the “New People” because he knew what being rejected felt like. 20171231_232022

He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.  He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. John 1:10-11 NKJV

Change can be difficult and unsettling, especially if we feel we are threatened by those new and different circumstances. But no matter what situation we find ourselves in the only true place of peace and acceptance is not in being surrounded by “Our People”. Real peace comes as a result of being adopted into God’s family by the blood of Jesus Christ.

I was thinking how last Wednesday a friends of ours; who is one of those,  “New People” became a U.S. citizen. He and His family eat different food, speak a different language and has a different culture.  But today Raj and I both have exactly the same rights, responsibilities and privileges. In the same way, when Jesus laid down His life on the cross to pay for our sins, we gained the privilege of citizenzenship and includsion in the community of God. Yes as His children,  we may always be treated as the “New People”; but God calls us His own. How much more should we  be ready to embrace whoever He has allowed to live just down the street in our town?

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For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Philippians 3:20 NKJV

 

Bridging the Great Divide

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The greatest example of all loving service is the cross. But there is no other symbol on earth that attracts more anger and division. On the cross God once more divided the light from the darkness. One thief cursed him and one believed. One disciple betrayed him and one came to the cross. One soldier gambled for his robe and another believed He was the Son of God. Yet on the cross of Calvary where its very beams divided the universe in two Jesus built a bridge over the great divide between God and man. There His sacrifice joined together forever anyone who say goodbye to their old world of hatred and sin and meet Him by faith at the cross.