Laced With Grace

Suppose you were a little boy who had an older brother who was your very best friend. Suppose you looked up to him because he was everything you wanted to be. Think of the time spent playing together, sharing secrets and laughter. Imagine knowing he loved you very much and was always there for you – always.

Now imagine that you and your brother are all grown up, and this one you have admired and loved all of your life suddenly begins saying and doing things that make you very uncomfortable. In fact, you are downright embarrassed about the way he has begun to behave. He is making claims about himself that you, frankly, just can’t believe. Perhaps you are hurt and confused. Perhaps you finally begin to distance yourself from this brother who once seemed so perfect to you.

I have been thinking much about this younger brother ever since I read about him while doing my Beth Moore study on The Fruit of the Spirit. I have been putting myself in the place of James, the younger half-brother of Jesus and wondering what it must have been like to walk in his sandals.

Growing up with Jesus as your big brother must have been a heady experience. Living with a brother who never hurt you in any way, never disappointed you, never showed you anything but kindness must have been very special for James. I like to think they were very close.

The day eventually came when this much loved older brother began His ministry. What must James have thought of the claims Jesus made about Himself? Could he even begin to understand that this one he had grown up with was the Son of God? It is evident from scripture that he couldn’t.

In John 7:5 it says, “For not even His brothers were believing Him.” They, James included, not only didn’t believe; they didn’t want any part of His ministry. How that must have hurt the heart of the Savior.

Fast – forward through time and we meet James once again. This time we find him in an upper room praying with the disciples and others. They have just seen Jesus taken up into heaven and have returned to Jerusalem. What happened between unbelief and faith? What caused this angry brother to have a change of heart?

In I Corinthians 15:7, Paul tells us that the resurrected Jesus appeared to James. Jesus didn’t show Himself individually to very many people, yet He took time from the limited time He had remaining on earth to meet this younger brother. What must that meeting have been like? What stands out most to me is the kindness and mercy of Jesus. There was no recrimination – only love and grace.

This same James went on to become one of the great leaders of the new church. He wrote a book of the Bible that contains these verses: “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1: 2-4 NAS)

A merciful Savior reached out to touch this young man, this precious brother, and God used him to write living words that have blessed and changed lives down through the ages. It is His mercy that brings me to my knees in humble gratitude. He has always loved me – even when I wanted nothing to do with Him. He drew me back to Himself wanting nothing more than to give me everything I could possibly ever need.

He extends that mercy to each one of us. There is no sin too great that it cannot be taken to a merciful God who will cleanse and forgive. It was mercy that sent a beloved Son to die for a sinful people. It was mercy that led Him to a cross to pay the penalty I should have paid. In His mercy He is not willing that any should perish. In His mercy He waits for us to come.

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ… and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:4-7 NAS

Thank You Lord, for the richness of Your mercy.

We set out on our quest with the sun at our backs and our hearts full of hope. It reads like the beginning of an epic novel- but it’s the tale of our pumpkin hunt.

Like in the Peanuts Classic “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” – we set out each year to find “The most sincere” pumpkin patch. As we live in the suburbs outside of Detroit- some years the most “sincere patch” we can find is at the neighborhood farm market, or grocery store. This year we scored big time. There were actual vines and dirt and weeds and pumpkin blossoms. A real live farm.

We were sure we’d have no problem finding just the right pumpkins. My husband pulled the wagon- the teenagers led the way- the youngest bounded through the pumpkin patch like a labrador retriever after sticks. He hopped from one pumpkin to the next declaring each one “perfect” before trying to haul them into the wagon. ALL OF THEM. “Just one, Noah, one pumpkin, each” We said , over and over. Pumpkins were chosen and un-chosen. He finally settled on a nice, smallish, round , white one.

The older two weren’t so easy to please. There was much examination and thumping of pumpkins. I’m sure there was kicking and examining rotted pumpkins for who knows what. There was probaby punkin’ chunkin’ while my back was turned. Mike,(my oldest) finally settled on a tall pumpkin. Matt- my middle son eventually found a “classic round”. My husband found his traditional- big and lopsided- while I found something in the white and round yet elegant category;)

When we got home- we set up our hale bales, then carefully arranged our chosen pumpkins. I stood back and looked at the menagerie. Each pumpkin was different. A different shape, a different size, a different color. But still- pumpkins. Each one chosen.

When I go to church- or I visit blogs or neighbors and friends- I see a menagerie as well. So many different kinds of people are Christians. So many variations on a theme. Tall Christians, loud Christians, quiet Christians, knitting ones, tatooed ones. There are Christians who worship noisily and those who worship reflectively.

Jesus, crucified, risen and glorified is what makes us unified. We’re all pumpkins- chosen by him- to light the world. Yet- we’re also very different. Like the pumpkins on my porch. How we serve God on Halloween, is just one of the ways we differ.

Some have their porch-lights on for Halloween and they serve up king sized candy bars- to the glory of Jesus Christ. They take what the world gives and use it as an opportunity to share God’s love.

Others offer a witness of another sort to their neighbors. Their lights remain off- but their hearts are full of love for God and their neighbors. They have a ready reason and are quick to share about why they are different. They also- bring glory to Jesus.

This Halloween- how will you and your family serve God? If you offer treats- will you have the courage to also offer the love of God? How will you do that?

If you don’t offer treats- will you share your reason? Will you share the love God has given you in some other way to your neighbors? How will you do that?

I think it would be interesting- to open up the comments- to hear ideas of how you’ll be sharing God’s love during a rather dark season.

Please share some of your ideas- but- please be respectful- I’m not asking for “sides of an argument” I’m asking what God has called you to do;) There will be readers here serving God with very different perspectives than yours. Remember we’re all pumpkins;) K?

As you’re praying and deciding what you’ll be doing on the 31st- this scripture is a good place to start- examining yourself and seeking Him.

Psalm 139:11-14

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

(John 10:10) “…I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

I wonder what Jesus was thinking when He said, “I came that they may have the abundant life…” Who was He speaking to? You, me…?

I might ask, you might ask, “Then why am I bound to this empty darkness of my heart, pushed around by my selfish desires and enslaved by my present day trials?”

In other words, I am not feeling the abundant life –Jesus!

We are dead even though we live (Lk 9:23). We have our beautiful homes, three cars, 3.2 children and debt up to our eyeballs but we have it all. But in our closets, live our little secrets that not even our spouse or closest friends know about us.  And we go on about our life.

Why? Why does it hurt? Why is it then if our Lord promised us this so-called “abundant life” there is so much pain? So much death, tragedy, heartache, fighting and ugliness…

• Pain is necessary. C.S. Lewis said, “Pain is God’s megaphone.” It energizes us with an intensity to change what we normally would not have the desire to change. Pain is not punishment from God but a wake-up call from God to draw us closer to Him. 

It reminds me of the story of a man that took home a cocoon so he could watch the emperor moth emerge. As the moth struggled to get through the tiny opening, the man enlarged it with a snip of his scissors. The moth emerged easily– but its wings were shriveled. The struggle through the narrow opening is God’s way to force fluid from its body into its wings. The “merciful” snip, in reality, was cruel. 

I lost my best friend 26 years ago to a brutal murder. I would never want to go through that again. But God has taught me so much and I have drawn closer to Him than I ever dreamed possible. I have experienced an abundance of love and forgiveness through the years that is beyond this world.  

We seek the comforts of this world. But this world is only temporal. The Heavens are eternal. Think of this world as a “shadow of life.” Would you love a shadow, eat or develop a relationship with a shadow? No, shadows are short lived. We cannot take them with us? But God’s gifts –of Love, Grace, Prayer, Relationships with people, and Forgiveness are forever. This is something we can take and leave behind for our loved ones.

That is why we thirst for the abundant life.

Drink—from the abundant fountain. Its taste is out of this world.

Living The Supernatural,

Connie