What Grace Looks like

The culture in which we live has turned cruel and calloused, often glorifying sarcasm and celebrating failures.  We would rather laugh at people when they fall and video it on our cameras than reach down and help them out.  We continue to draw into more selfish circles, refusing to extend our arms to those who are in need.

However, because of Jesus, this is different for the Church.  The rest of culture may be moving in this direction, but we understand the power of grace.  As we read the bible, we see grace extended in so many ways.

-The world becomes corrupt and evil which leads to their destruction, but God saves humanity through one family...That is what grace looks like.

-A city becomes so hedonistic that it is destroyed, but God saves the only family willing to leave...That is what grace looks like.

-A man refuses to wait on God's promise and births a child out of wedlock.  This child and his mother are run off from the family, but God protects that mother and child and allows them to become a nation...That is what grace looks like.

-A wife laughs at God's promise, but God still delivers on His promise anyway...That is what grace looks like.

-A brother cheats his brother, then flees for his life.  After many years, God reunites the brothers and there is peace between them...That is what grace looks like.

-A man is sold into slavery then thrown in prison for being righteous, but God brings his release and promotion to a place of prominence...That is what grace looks like.

-This same man forgives, feeds and cares for the very family members who sold him into slavery...That is what grace looks like.

-A man commits murder and flees for his life, but God restores him and sends him back to the very same country he fled...That is what grace looks like.

-A poor shepherd speaks to the most powerful ruler on earth and God brings about the miraculous release of slaves...That is what grace looks like.

-A man with incredible strength given by God misuses this strength, but cries out to God asking for this strength to be restored.  God restores his strength so he can bring judgment...That is what grace looks like.

-A man with no courage and little training is utilized by God to defeat an enemy of over 20,000 with just 300 men...That is what grace looks like.

-A ruler who commits adultery and murder to hide his adultery experiences conviction and forgiveness by God...That is what grace looks like.

-A man with leprosy kneels before Jesus asking to be healed and Jesus heals him...That is what grace looks like.

-A large group listening to Jesus is fed with only a few fish and loaves...That is what grace looks like.

-Some women who stay close to Jesus are the first to see Him after His resurrection...That is what grace looks like.

-A man who denies Jesus three times is restored by Jesus...That is what grace looks like.

-A man who refuses to believe his friends about the resurrection gets to see and touch the risen Savior...That is what grace looks like.

-A man who enjoys persecuting and killing followers of Jesus becomes a follower of Jesus...That is what grace looks like.

-A young man who drops out on a mission trip is restored and given another opportunity...That is what grace looks like.
-Humanity was plunging headlong into Hell until Jesus became the perfect sacrifice on the cross for all of the sins of humanity...That is what grace looks like.

The Bible is a book of grace - God redeeming that which our world thinks is beyond help and hope.  But grace is not just something that happened thousands of years ago.  Grace is something that happened back in 1971 when as a ten year old boy in the woods of North Carolina at a Royal Ambassador Camp, I realize a profound emptiness in my life that could only be filled by Jesus.  In that moment as I received Jesus as my Savior, I was given a lifetime of purposefulness that has taken me to Kentucky, Hawaii, California, the Philippines, Korea, Hong Kong and next door.  That is what grace looks like.

BUT grace is happening every day around us, in ways we often do not see because of our busyness.  He is offering multiple second chances to blow it again to so many of us.  Many who have rejected His grace continue to be shown grace in the hopes that they will respond and receive this incredible gift.  As the Church, we are entrusted with God's grace.  We are to be instruments of God's forgiveness and second chances.  Who do you know who needs another chance?  Who do you know what needs some grace.  In an angry and bitter world, we become the seeds of peace and joy as we share God's grace found only in Jesus.