Recently, our Air Conditioning went out and in fact, is still out as I write this post! Although it has been hot in this 100 + degree weather, I had the opportunity on one of these hot nights to sleep outside, as it was much cooler than being inside. As I went outside and placed a blanket on the ground, I did something that I haven't done since we lived in a little West Texas town named Pampa - I looked at the sky and stared up at the stars! It may seem interesting to you that I haven't taken the time to look at the night sky in quite some time. In fact, because of the busy-ness of the ministry and just life in general, I haven't taken the time to do much of anything like that in quite some time! We should all take the time to look at the beautiful night sky; it was quite fascinating. To think that the God of the universe not only formed the stars but knows them by name; and then I thought about us, and how he even has our hairs numbered! Incredible! Now that is love!
Yet, when I did that, something amazing took place. I began to realize how small and finite we truly are. I mean, think about it. Average life in the US in 77 years. Now most I pray surpass that, and in fact if we take care of our temple (body), we sure might. Yet, here is the reality. We live and we die. We will be missed by some maybe a week, some of us maybe even a year or two, but life goes on for us. We lost a daughter to cancer and still miss her deeply, but we have moved on and have learned to adapt to life without Amy. Sad but true. God has formed us to be people that are enabled to move on from a loss. Yet, here's what I realized. It's all about Grace. It's all about Relationship. Its truly is.
I look at situations that have occurred in my life and realize that in the past, there have been so many times that I have judged situations prematurely, and, without knowing the facts, condemned the person, sentenced them, and carried out that sentence, hurting the one whom I have condemned. All the while doing the thing that the Word clearly says to not do, which was by my judgment, to exclude them from the fold. I think about this because everyone has a sphere of influence. Everybody knows somebody, and those bodies that we know look to us either in full or part for example, witness, and for some, they look at us to know what Jesus looks like.
So then when we come back with unforgiveness within our hearts, or just a hardened heart because of an injury that we have suffered (right or wrong), we find ourselves not allowing the Grace that has been extended to us to be extended to them. The Word says woe to us for tying a millstone around their neck and chunking them into oblivion; all because we did not offer the same grace and forgiveness that was extended to us through Jesus Christ in the first place.
Yet, then I think about the first word that the Lord gave me on this subject which is to "always err on the side of grace." I was going through a difficult time in my life and ministry recently when the Lord spoke this to me, I believe for the sole purpose of knocking some sense into my head so that I would extend out what has been extended to me! When I received that revelation, I realized the fullness of what Jesus had done for me on the cross. God knew that I would be born into sin, knew that I would sin, knew that I would walk in sin, resemble sin, etc. Yet, through that sin, He made the decision to extend grace to us anyway. So, He does this for us everyday without condemning, and without trying to super-impose His will on our lives; He just forgives. Through the Blood of Jesus, He forgives, and then does something even greater than that. He forgets! Amazing really, truly amazing! The bible says in Psalm 103 that as far as the East is from the West, He forgives! Period! He just does, regardless of what we have done! That is grace..that is relationship. For some of you reading, it's a new concept; a new way to think that God, the creator of the Universe, would do that. Yet He will. It's just that simple - He will.
And I look at some of us who don't have this grace. Why is that? I want to encourage you today to do just that. Realize that there are always others that are watching you, to see how to be, how to act, what to think, how to think. What example are we setting for them today; does it line up with the precious Word? Does it line up with Jesus? The Father? Has the Holy Spirit been speaking to you to release something but you just can't - or won't? Oh try my friend, please try, and understand that with however much you release, He will take, if truly it is released. One final thing - you don't have to be judge and jury. It's not your place. So, we probably would be wise to step out of this role and into the role of, "We err always on the side of grace"
Blessings,
Pastor Kevin Hull
spanspan
No comments:
Post a Comment