Laced With Grace

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches, but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.  For in these I delight,” says the Lord. – Jer 9:23-24 NKJV

Are you wise, mighty or rich?  That might be all well and good, but it won’t score you points with God.  God is pretty clear about what He wants from us.  According to Jeremiah 9:23-24, God just wants us to understand and know Him.  I suppose that seems pretty reasonable, since by understanding and knowing God we will also know what to expect from us.  I’m wondering if God might be easier to please than most people we know because His mind is an open book to us, pun intended. 

Getting to know and understand God, which will result in Him delighting in us, is really an easy task if we just put forth some effort.  All we have to do is dust off our bibles and spend some time each day reading its pages.  We can even ask God to help us understand what we are reading!  If we are Christians, He will provide that help through our own personal interpreter and tutor, the Holy Spirit, that lives inside us.   God really does want us to know Him. 

How well do you know God, the Creator of the universe?  Do you know Him well enough to “glory” in what you know?  Getting to know God is one of our highest priviledges, the thing God wants most from us, and the most profitable thing we can be doing, yet most Christians spend little time in God’s Word for themselves.  Yes, we can learn about God from experiencing Him in creation, by listening to praise music or by reading books about Him, but we can’t truly understand all aspects of His nature unless we read the bible – all of it – for ourselves.   If we really want to delight God, we need to get into the Book.

For further thought:

1) How much time do you spend in God’s Word each day?

2) Do you have a systematic approach to reading God’s Word?  A systematic approach will give you consistency in your reading as well as ensure that you read it all rather than just your favorite passages over and over.

3) What one thing can you do this week to get to know God better through His Word?

I’m taking a Spanish class and I listen to some of the more experienced speakers around me…yes…they are speaking another language. Oh, I can pick up a few words and get the main idea of a sentence, but I am so far away from being able to carry on a conversation!

In another class, Multicultural Children’s Literature, we talk about culture. One (of many) of the things that make a “culture” a culture is a form of its own language.

There are some cultures that cross other cultures and a person can be a part of different cultures. If we use a particular sort of definition of “culture”, a case can be made that Christianity has a form of its own culture.

There are words that we use that non-believers just cannot understand in the way that we do. They can “understand” the word, but do not “get” the sentence.

Submission: Christ on the cross, submitting to humanity’s need for a Savior. To those outside of Christ, submission is either a word they don’t want to hear, or it’s a perverted sort of submission with “self” at the core.

Justice: Getting what we deserve. To the world, it’s generally either “us” getting what we want, or somebody else suffering because of their actions.

Mercy: Not getting what we deserve. For us, it’s escape from hell, it’s safety from the world. For those not in Christ it’s getting off lightly.

Grace: Getting that which we do NOT deserve. Eternal life, life in Christ. How can one who does not have light understand the Light?

Sin: That which separates us from Christ. or…the “naughty stuff”

Forgiveness: we have been forgiven much, it is up to us to forgive much.

We use the same words, but we speak a different language than the world. We understand the world because we’ve been there. We want others to “get it” so we explain. But it is a different language.

I’m not sure where I’m going with this…I do know that there is a difference between working with Christians and non-Christians. Even with the same work ethic and standards, there is just a difference. We speak a different language.

It just hit me this evening (studying vocabulary) how different we are from the world…how different we are supposed to be. God helping us.

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16 NIV

A few years ago, my husband and I had neighbors that we were very close to.  However, it was during that time that we were allowing everything else in our life to take precedence over a relationship with God.  While we never strayed from our love for the Lord, we were walking in disobedience by not putting God first in our lives. 

Now, our neighbors knew we were Christians, even if we didn’t always set the best example.  Over time, we even developed a tradition of attending church together every Easter.  My first born came along in January of 2001.  God began to convict my husband and I that we were to get back into church and start living our lives under His authority – not our own.  We began attending a church and within a year our faithful neighbors joined us for an Easter service.  Within a few weeks, they both turned their lives over to Christ and submitted their family to God’s authority as well.  I’m so glad they showed us extra grace and didn’t let the luke-warm lifestyle we led deter them from their own relationship with the Lord.Showing grace to one another can sometimes be difficult at best. 

I am the worst at showing grace when someone hurts me or disagrees with me.  I fall short daily of showing grace and it is an area that I have to work on.  It helps me to be reminded of times that others showed grace with me.  My neighbors are a good example.  They really could say that I wasn’t an example that they would want to follow.  I think being a luke-warm Christian is so much worse than just being outright bad. 

Jesus offered us the greatest gift of grace when he died on that cross.  He didn’t deserve to take on my sins or anyone else’s sins.  He was a perfect man who became the perfect sacrifice.  How dare I resist offering grace to someone else?  Now the question is what will I do with it?  I need to choose grace, forgiveness and move on.  No, it isn’t easy – my flesh doesn’t want to do it.  But isn’t that what it means to daily pick up our cross and follow Him? 

Dear Lord, Thank you for your conviction of the luke warm lifestyle I was disobediently living and the call to live my life under your authority. Thank you for the free gift of grace you extended to me over and over.  Thank you for the salvation of our friends and that even in my imperfection and in Your complete sovereignty you  used me and my husband to be a witness.  Help me to be more like you daily, offering grace to those around me and not holding grudges.  In Jesus Christ name, Amen.