Grace

GRACE – “Gifts from God.”  I think of five areas:

1. the gift of life – all men are exposed to an amazing world of wonders.

Every person of any age is blessed by God’s goodness.  They can marvel at the beauty of a sunset, the grandeur of mountains and forests, the amazing animal world (go to Henry Doorly!), the wonder of reproduction – especially of a human birth (to hold a newborn – WOW!), the glories of a flower garden with bees, the marvels of water – recharging, cleansing and freezing and/or the immensity of the galaxy.  All men everywhere are blessed to live in such an amazing world.  That world screams Creator and His goodness! 

2. the gifting of people to grasp, unlock and create.

It is a gift from God that men and women have been and are enlightened and empowered to bless mankind in any number of ways.  Ponder on men like: Louis Pasteur, Johannes Gutenberg, Alexander Graham Bell, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, John Deere, Wilbur Wright, Steve Jobs, George Eastman and a million others.  Thanks be to God for gifting men and thereby blessing mankind!

3. the gift of the church – the body of saints (those who are truly God’s) that slow and stop the crud that would corrupt and destroy.

For just ten, Sodom would have been saved from destruction.  Little does the world realize the importance of the prayers and the lives of the righteous that stay the hand of judgment.  Little does a nation know of the generational influence of saints like Jonathan Edwards or George Whitefield or John Jay.  So often overlooked are the lives of saints serving on assembly lines, in kitchens, in the  trades, in offices all who check lying, gossip, theft, rebellion and laziness.  How much a nation/culture is blessed by God’s people in her midst.

4. the gift of salvation – one is saved from guilt, fear and anger solely via a gift from God.

Every person born is beset by three basic “cancers”:  guilt, fear and anger (Gen 3:8-12 – covered, hid and blamed).  Guilt/shame – “I wish I would have.”  “I’m haunted by my past.”  Or, fear!  Why ADT, guards, locked doors, health insurance, life insurance, etc.?  FEAR!  And then anger.  Prisons, drugs and liquor to calm emotions, broken marriages and families, murders – and all have at their root – anger.

Men are slaves to their emotions – they need saved.  Men need saved for they can’t overcome their condition or their plight.  And God saves!  For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, Ephesians 2:8.  As John Newton declared, “Amazing grace that saved a wretch like me!”  [Salvation comes to those who acknowledge their sin, grieve over it, ask for forgiveness and desire to henceforth follow and obey Jesus.]

5. and the gift of Hope – the moxie to face the future.

Death awaits all.  All people face an end of this life with the only remembrance after a couple of generations (at least for most) being a stone marker (or a box on someone’s mantle).  Death stalks and the grave looms.  And why can Christians face death and the friends of Christians go through a funeral with a peace and even a joy?  Jesus!  Jesus was born of Mary, walked the terra firma as all men and died!  And rose!  Jesus defeated death and the grave!  A gift from God for those who are His is the promise of being with Him at death (II Cor. 5:8) followed by a resurrection of their body to perfection (I Thess. 4:17) and of an everlasting life (John 3:16) with the God of love, joy, peace and beauty!  For the Christian, death is a doorway to a glorious life.  A gift from God is HOPE!