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But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. Ephesians 4:7
We went to a candy shop once to get salt-water taffy. There’s was the best! It was one of those old-time candy shops where the salt-water taffy was in baskets. You could take a small container and choose the kind and amount of each flavor.
I enjoyed watching the little children being given a container and permission to choose. Some were very meticulous, choosing each piece carefully. Some would plunge their hands deep into the basket and try to get as much as possible into their tiny hands so that they could fill their basket with their favorite flavor. Try as they might, they couldn’t get the whole basket in their hands at once, but that didn’t stop them from trying.
Grace is like that large container of our favorite taffy. Each individual piece of taffy represents the times we fail Jesus. It may be a word spoken that never should have been heard. It may be a decision which ended up hurting your stand for Christ and/or those around you. It could be the inability for you to forgive someone who has hurt you deeply.
Time after time we go to the basket of grace. Because of our sin we reach deeply into the basket and pull out as much as we can. But the supply never lessens and there is never a lack. God’s grace is given to us according to Christ’s desire to give. We can never use it up. We can never deplete the supply. He chooses to give us an unlimited supply of grace to get us through the tough times of life, to heal the wounds of our soul, to sweeten our lives with forgiveness.
What are you struggling with today? Is it fear of the future? Reach deep into the basket of grace. Pull out all the promises of God’s constant presence and protection. Do you struggle with an addiction or shameful habit? Plunge you hand deep into the basket of God’s grace and fill your fingers with God’s forgiveness and power to conquer the frustration of not being able to life in victory. Are you suffering the scars of a life battered by abuse and anger? Dig down deep into the promises that Jesus’ desire is to heal you of those bruises. Taste the sweetness of a life no longer affected by the past.
God doesn’t give us grace according to our need; He gives it according to His vast, endless supply through Jesus Christ.
Go ahead. Walk into the candy shop of God’s grace. Take your fill. Enjoy the sweetness of God’s provision for your soul. You’ll never find Him lacking. You’ll never be alone.
PRAYER: Father God, No one knows the pain I harbor deep in my soul except you. No one understands the pain I struggle with on a daily basis. Pain due to fear, anger, my past, shame and guilt haunts me daily. Forgive me for my failings. Help me to taste the sweetness of your Grace. Empower me through Your Spirit to conquer the things in my life that keep me from relationship with you. Thank you for Your unending supply of Grace through Jesus Christ. Amen.
So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man. Acts 24:16
Being misunderstood and wrongfully accused is never easy. It’s even harder when those closest to you lie in order to try to make you look bad in front of others. That was the case when Paul was drug into court for being a troublemaker.
Before his conversion, Paul was considered an expert in Jewish law and one of the up-and-coming religious leaders. He was the poster child for ‘Jews against Jesus’ and was responsible for many people being stoned, sent to prison and even arrested for following Jesus of Nazareth.
Then, miraculously, Paul found Jesus, or should I say, Jesus found Paul and from that moment on his life was changed forever.
The problem is, people don’t like change. Even though Paul was right about his message, it was different that the status-quo religious system of his day. Paul was a rebel and even though his faith in God was deeper than it had ever been, people around him saw him as a rebel and a heretic. Paul’s enemies for the most part were the same people he worshipped with in the temple. They were his closest friends. They were his spiritual as well as physical family.
God’s character never changes. He is always love. He is always a God of mercy and grace. He is always willing to forgive us when we stumble and fall. But He doesn’t always work through the same methods. God changes His methods as society changes in order to bring as many into His Kingdom as possible.
Sometimes we may be misunderstood by those closest to us. Sometimes we may even be called a heretic. Some may even question our salvation. When others question your motives or methods it’s always important to measure what they say by what God is telling you. He may be asking you to open a whole new avenue of ministry to reach out to people who need to hear about Jesus.
I knew a pastor in a small town who was burdened for the people in the bar just down the street from his church. On St. Patrick’s Day one year, he went down to the bar. He didn’t drink a drop. He simply visited with patrons of the bar. As ‘luck’ would have it, his picture showed up in the local paper as part of a story about St. Patrick’s Day revelers. As a result, the church he pastured for several years fired him! Sometimes God may ask you to take a risk for Him even though the ‘religious community’ will look down on you. If that happens, make sure your conscience is clear and your motives Christ-like. Then, REJOICE! You are now part of an elite club made up of Paul, most of the disciples, many spiritual leaders throughout history, and most of all, the club president—Jesus Christ!
PRAYER: Father God. I thank you for people like Paul and others who have been willing to break ranks with the ‘religious status-quo’ in order to do new and exciting things to bring others into your Kingdom. I ask that you would give me the courage to be willing to step out risk my reputation if need be in order to reach people for you who may never enter a church door. In Jesus name, Amen.
“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. Luke 16:10
Jesus tells the story of a man who was caught cheating by his employer. As a result of the dishonesty the man was informed that he would lose his job. Before he was fired he went to all the people that owed his boss money and gave them huge discounts. While this further cheated his boss, it made the man many friends. We aren’t told in the story, but no doubt these people were willing to help the dishonest person because he helped them.
The lesson from this story is that honesty isn’t dependent on the amount entrusted but on the sense of responsibility a person has to those who trust him. The man in the story may have been considered generous by those he gave discounts to, but in reality, he wasn’t concerned in the least about their well-being. He was really only concerned about himself.
Our view of ourselves has a huge part to play on whether we are honest or dishonest. Many times we will lie to cover up our own mistakes, choosing to blame others instead of accepting the responsibility. Other times we may lie to make ourselves look better. We don’t want to admit we are weak, so we lie to make ourselves look better than someone else.
Dishonesty at any level destroys our entire reputation. If I lie about a little thing, then I most likely will lie about bigger things as well. On small amount of dirt in a clear glass of water taints the whole glass and makes it undrinkable. In the same way one little lie, on little act of deception tarnishes our entire character.
As Christ-followers each of us is responsible for making sure we are men and women of integrity and trust. There is no place in our lives for any action that has it’s basis on avoiding responsibility for our actions or making others look bad for our own benefit.
Grace teaches us that we are, in some senses, completely helpless to live a life of purity and perfection. There will be times when we fail in our attempt to be honest. There may be times when our actions are misunderstood as being malicious when they are not. Those are the times we can come to our Savior, Jesus Christ, for forgiveness, and strength to continue on.
Start with the small things. As you learn to trust Him for strength in the small areas of your weakness you will find it easier to tackle the larger areas where you tend to be dishonest. Jesus didn’t come to condemn liars. He came to empower them to be honest.
PRAYER: Father you know that I tend to be dishonest in some of the things I say. I ask that you would forgive me for those times. Empower me by your Spirit to be willing to accept responsibility for my actions. Enable me to be a person of integrity for your sake. Amen.
I put in charge of Jerusalem my brother Hanani, along with Hananiah the commander of the citadel, because he was a man of integrity and feared God more than most people do. Nehemiah 7:2
When crunch time comes you want to call on someone you know you can count on. Someone who performs well under pressure; someone who is confident enough in his/her abilities that a challenge is looked forward to; someone who is willing to risk, but open to asking for help when needed; someone who won’t let their bad day affect the task at hand.
That was the kind of person the Prophet Nehemiah was looking for when he rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem. The success of the project involved far more than the protection of the people. Nehemiah was an envoy for the King. Failure wasn’t an option because failure not only meant Nehemiah would be considered a failure, his God, Jehovah God would be discredited.
So where did Nehemiah go for his go-to guy? He went to his brother, Hanani, but this wasn’t a case of Nepotism. It was wise discernment. While Nehemiah was a servant in the palace of the Persian King Jerusalem lay in ruins. The once proud and glorious city was now the laughing stock of marauding bands of thieves. God’s people and His city, the city of David, was a disgrace.
With conditions as deplorable as they were, there was no doubt much discussion at the local Fig Juice Shop about the glory days, about how God had failed and how destitute they all were. When times are tough there is always plenty of blame and complaining to go around.
That’s where Hanani comes in. He wasn’t the type of guy to sit around sipping on Fig Juice and vent. He was a doer, a go getter, a ‘if God gave us a promise then we’d best pursue it’ kind of guy. In the midst of the blame game, Hanani took off for Persia. It was a dangerous journey laced with enemy kings and thieves. That didn’t stop Hanani.
When he arrived in at the Persian palace, Hanani told Nehemiah all about the terrible conditions in Jerusalem. Eventually the walls were rebuilt and Jerusalem rose from the rubble due to the leadership of Nehemiah and the determination of Hanani.
We can each learn a lesson from the story of Hanani. We come across issues and struggles every day of our lives. Every time we come across an obstacle we have a choice to take action. Will it be a negative action such as complaining or blaming? Or will it be the positive action of looking for and working on solutions.
Hanani’s integrity was based on confidence in himself and in His God. Each of us has the same opportunities. As Christ-followers we should be the kind of people that others look to in crisis because we don’t discuss the problem, we plan the solution.
PRAYER: Holy God. I praise you for the wisdom and intellect you have given me. I ask that you would empower me by your Holy Spirit to be a take positive action sort of person. Protect me from the tendency to complain and blame so that Your name will be glorified because of me. In Jesus name, Amen.
Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank Proverbs 22:29
The difference between excellence and mediocrity can often be determined by our attitude about God, ourselves and others. Of the three, our view of ourselves is perhaps the most powerful adversary to our rising to excellence.
If we see ourselves as failures, we will most likely never rise to excellence. We look at past failures and say to ourselves “I’ll never amount to anything. Everything I’ve ever done has failed. The more we dwell on our failures the easier it is to become afraid to fail, complacent in what we do, or just give up all together. I wonder if even the Apostle Paul was near that point when he wrote in his letter to the Romans “The things I want to do I never do, the things I hate doing, I always do.”
The Bible is full of stories of people just like you who have failed in life. Time and again they’ve picked themselves up only to be knocked down. But God used them in mighty ways. Don’t let the past keep you from excelling into the future.
Another hindrance to our rising to the level of excellence is our view of what success really is. Often we measure success by what other people have done or are doing. This is true in the spiritual realm, the physical realm, and the emotional/relational realm. We look at someone else’s job, skills, ‘spirituality’, spouse, etc. and say, I’ll never succeed. Look at how well Mary prays or how well Joe does his job.
Excellence is a personal thing. Your Heavenly Father is the one that bestowed gifts on you. He is the one that gives you opportunities to use those gifts. Excellence in your corner of the world may never be seen by others outside of your own circle. That doesn’t make it less excellent. Stop comparing yourself to others. Be the very best you can be. Accept your flaws, work to correct what you can and do what you can to make your corner of the world brighter.
When our past gets in the way or we are surrounded by people who seem to have ‘made it’ it’s easy to play the blame game as well. We ask God why He won’t do for us what He did for them. We may even get angry with Him and doubt His wisdom, power or existence. That’s the time to step back and remember that God’s desire is for you to rely on Him, not to have a bunch of friends and be famous. Excellence to God is being godly parents, children and members of our community who walk in close relationship to Him.
Stop comparing yourself to others. Don’t let the past act as handcuffs in keeping you from living the future to its fullest. Allow God to work through you to be the best you can be. He isn’t looking for cookie-cutter Christians. He’s looking for people of excellence.
PRAYER: Father, there are some many times when I’ve allowed my view of myself or the view others have of me to keep me from being excellent for you. Forgive me for basing who I am on what I see in others. Empower me to be excellent in everything I do today, in each life I touch and every task I do. For I exist to glorify You, not myself. In Jesus name, Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 