Just Talk: Grace

---

A wise man once passed a friend, he asked “How are you doing?”

“I’m fine, thank you” she replied.

He asked again, “But how is your spirit?”

---

I think sometimes we can be so busy doing stuff, living in the busyness of life that we forget to check up on our friends. You see, it is a responsibility we all share. We are responsible for the pastoral care of each other. We will often say we are fine but really we aren’t. So I want to challenge you at the start of the day, the next time you ask someone how they are; really mean it and be ready for the answer. So, today, I want to ask you – How is your spirit?

I know for me, my faith has been on quite the rollercoaster throughout my life. Even more so in recent times. I’ve been going through a lot of just 'stuff'. You know, the day to day, 365, 24/7 part of being a human. In the darkest moments, it can be easy to wonder where God is in all this. Sometimes, and it's becoming more frequent – there just isn’t the words.

Now, you might be wondering what trials and times of struggle has to do with grace? Surely, you would expect me to write about keeping the faith, about God’s faithfulness. But you see, without God’s grace, I would not be writing this post right now.

Faith and grace are intrinsically linked. You can’t have one without the other.

Also, I think sometimes a bit like faith we don’t really talk about grace. Maybe we scratch the surface or maybe we like to compartmentalise and just put grace in a box over there out of the way. Truly ignorance is bliss. But what is grace?

A preacher once taught this analogy of grace.

Imagine for a second you are in a boat going down a stream and the mouth of that stream is the entrance to hell. God’s grace, he said, was the oars God had given us to row ourselves away from hell. He continued on this vain but instantly there was something wrong.

Based on that analogy, it would mean that you got to heaven by your own merit. That would mean it was amazing you. Not amazing grace. Sometimes, we make up things that seem right but are actually wrong.

---

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:4-9 (NIV)

---

So there it is, I am saved not because I am worthy, not because I have done something special, not because I go to church every week or I have the read the Bible the most times. In fact, there is nothing I could do to repair the broken relationship between God and man. I am saved because of Him. It is in His unending, unconditional, unmerited absolute love that I am saved. But you see, for those who believe, that shouldn’t be a reason to not do anything. To return to our sinful ways and be like “well it doesn’t matter because my Lord will forgive me” That is not the deal. Again I ask you – “How is your faith?”

You see faith isn’t a passive word it is a doing word.

I remember the first time I got proper leather shoes and I went to polish them. I would spend hours applying, buffing, and polishing these shoes trying to get the elusive mirror-shine. Over time, I have learned that I will never get the perfect mirror shine because nothing is perfect this side of heaven. That doesn’t mean I don’t polish my shoes. It just means that I strive for a different goal.

It is the same with grace. Just because I won’t be able to live up to the standard Jesus set for us doesn’t mean I don’t try. Not because I want to be Jesus but rather because I am running the race for Him.

---

...let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

Hebrews 12:1-3 (NIV)

---

Jesus set the gold-standard and whilst we can’t do anything to earn God’s grace, we can love Him, and give our lives to Him as a living sacrifice of the faith we proclaim.

Finally, I want to challenge you. Talk about it. Talk about the things that we find uncomfortable. Don’t just let things be put in a box over there out of mind. Rather take the mindset of a child who always asks why. And believe me, His grace will open so many doors for you and everyday it will amaze you.

My chains are gone I've been set free My God, my Savior has ransomed me And like a flood His mercy rains Unending love, Amazing grace

Amen