grace: the root of my identity in Christ
grace: the purpose of the cross
grace: the beauty in the gospel
grace: the overflow of our Father's love
grace: the message for this broken world
2 Timothy 2:1
“Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”
By the oh so precious grace of God, a deep love for the Haitian people was placed on my heart almost six years ago and radically changed every aspect of my life in result. These past six years have been anything but ordinary. My life has been far from traditional, my heart cries more than ever, and my desires very distant from the American dream. Consequently, I have found myself countless times overwhelmed by the profound greatness of the attributes of God. This week, I am in awe of His grace.
2 Corinthians 8:9
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: Though He was rich for your sake He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich.”
How sweet the grace of the Lord that I got to spend this week doing what my heart desperately yearns to do with people my soul adores. In the past year, the Lord has been teaching me what being a steward of grace is. This week, the Lord invited me to be a steward of His grace in ways that distinctly show different aspects of my heart. Here's a picture of my heart: discipleship in Haiti, the mountains of Haiti, deep theological discussions, family, friends, and feeling His presence tangibly. By His grace alone, this is what this past week has consisted of. We went to the mountains two days to share the gospel through the Christmas story and worship with the kids there. These churches were not easy to get to by any means. We had long truck rides and tough hikes on steep hills covered with slippery mud. God's provisions were made apparent in obvious ways that were super cool. I don’t know what it is about standing on top of a mountain and looking out to the endless mountain tops that excites me beyond belief. It excites me to see God’s handiwork and be reminded of His great size. It excites me knowing that God can move mountains. And it excites me for the calling that the Lord has placed on my life. It excites me when He reveals His mountains and mountains of grace. Monday through Thursday, we had Bible studies with the teenagers in the church of a dear friend of mine. We walked through the Bible and studied how it pointed to Jesus and the command to go and make disciples. We had planned for these Bible studies for a while, but the majority of the time in these studies were spent answering very well thought out and challenging questions about God. We spent several hours this week answering these young people's questions. These were not your "typical hard questions" like predestination or evolution. We got to work out some really cool things about who God is and the truth of the gospel. These people truly had a hunger and thirst for knowledge of the Lord. Some of these people, I had spent a week evangelizing with this summer. I knew their hearts for the lost and seeing them ask these deep questions was so encouraging. There was one dude who definitely had the most questions of the group. By the end of the week, he told us that he had been praying for so long for someone to answer these questions we had. How cool is the grace of the Lord that He used 12 college-aged vessels to answer a Haitian teenager’s prayers. These teenagers expressed their gratitude for us studying God’s Word with them this week and told us they were going to use what they learned to spread the gospel. That is God right there. That is incredible. Oh man is He good.
Ephesians 2:8-10
“For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.”
This grace that poured out as the blood of our Savior dripped down from the cross a couple thousand years ago continues to flood us on a daily basis. By His grace, He rocked my world almost six years ago. By His grace, I came to Samford a year early. By His grace, He called me to lead a team to Haiti. By His grace, I got to have one of my best friend’s by my side loving the Lord with all we’ve got together. By His grace, I got to serve on mountaintops. By His grace, He used us to answer questions about the truth. By His grace, we got to be stewards of His grace. The gospel is a gift of grace. We are to be stewards of this gift. We are not to throw it around like its a cheap present. It is a priceless gift, and we must be wise in how we share it. Especially in a culture different than our own, it is important to look at how the gospel can be shared most effectively. By His grace, we get to tell of His grace which is the gospel. It is His grace that commands us to go, equips us to share, and strengthens us to love. We are messengers by His grace with a message of beautiful grace. We plant seeds of grace so that tiny plants can break through the soil to grow into oaks of righteousness. We are stewards of grace.
At church on Sunday, a lady sang a beautiful song with these words in the chorus: “Mwen vld kache anba gras ou.” — “I want to hide under Your grace.”
2 Timothy 1:6, 8-10
“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God… So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me His prisoner. But join me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life— not because of anything we have one but because of His own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”
Ephesians 3:7
“I was made a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace that was given me by the working of His power.”
No comments:
Post a Comment