Grace for the Race

Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16)

It never ceases to amaze me how many people put Jesus into the category of “colleague,” someone they work alongside of as they go through life. Now, inasmuch as we do indeed work and serve alongside of our Lord Jesus, He is in no way our colleague. Jesus is not our equal. Jesus is not someone we can criticize or ignore. Jesus is Lord and He sits on top of the throne of our lives to rule and to reign, to guide and to govern, to direct and to discipline us. Never are we in a position to pass judgment on our Lord because His ways are perfect and He is in control of everything in the universe, including every detail of our little lives.

So, how do you recognize whether you have put Jesus in the category of colleague? Take a look at how you receive His Word as it speaks into every area of your life. Do you take Jesus at His Word or do you take only the parts that you like and that make sense to you? If Jesus is truly Lord in our lives, we follow everything He has said, no questions asked, and that includes those times when we do not understand what He is up to in our lives. If Christ is your colleague, there will be times when you will question His wisdom and you will refuse to follow where He is leading you.

But when Christ is on the throne of your life, there is nothing you hold back. You give Him your time. You give Him your talent. You give Him your treasure. You surrender your plans to Jesus. Your surrender your goals to Jesus. You surrender your desires to Jesus. Remember, surrender is a battle term. It implies giving up all rights you think you have to the one who has conquered you, and His name is Jesus the Christ – not Jesus the colleague. Because Jesus is good all the time, He has conquered us for one reason only – to bless us in relationship with Him. Let that truth set you free to follow wherever He is leading.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to Jesus. (Luke 15:1)

If we had been there when the tax collectors and sinners were all coming to Jesus, this is what we would have heard from the devout religious leaders, “EWWWWWW!” You know the sound. It is often heard when children are at play. When they encounter something they do not like they cry out, “EWWWWWW!” And that is exactly what the upstanding and self-righteous religious leaders were doing when they saw the sinners continually coming into the presence of Jesus.

• Jesus receives sinners . . .  EWWWWWW!
• Jesus eats with tax collectors . . . EWWWWWW!
• Doesn’t Jesus know how bad these people are . . .  EWWWWWW!
• Jesus is treating this scum like friends . . .  EWWWWWW!

What is surprising to the self-righteous then and now is this, Jesus never said, “EWWWWWW!” to anyone. He knew what kind of people were coming to Him and that they were sinners. He knew also what kind of people the religious leaders were, sinners too. Not think about this – Jesus would have been more than justified to send all of them away because all of them were sinners. But He did not. He welcomed those who knew they were sinners and were not hiding behind some kind of proud, self-righteous, and unholy religiosity. And He still welcomes sinners today, just like you and me. 

But there is one more thing. Not only did Jesus refuse to say, “EWWWWWW!” the day He welcomed you into His presence, he continues to refuse to say, “EWWWWWW!” to anything you do. He is not embarrassed by your behavior. He is not shamed by your sin. Jesus died to have you in relationship with Him and He has promised to never leave nor forsake you. “EWWWWWW!” is simply not part of the vocabulary of our Lord with it comes to those who turn to Him, by grace through faith, because once you are His, you are His forever more. 

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

I am the bread of life. (John 6:35)

When Jesus fed the 5,000 plus women and children, He made this most remarkable statement – “I am the bread of life.” Jesus had just given the people what they needed to sustain physical life . . .  bread . . . and then He goes on to tell them that He is the bread that had come down from heaven and whoever comes to him will never go hungry. Just like bread satisfies our physical hunger, Jesus, as the true bread that came down from heaven, is the only One who can satisfy our spiritual hunger.

Now, don’t miss this. If you fast from food and refuse to eat your daily bread, you will eventually grow weak, faint, and you will die. It is no different when it comes to our relationship with Jesus. Just as we must eat our daily bread to sustain our physical life, we must feast daily on Jesus. We must come into His presence each day through prayer and the study of His Word and as we do, the life of our Lord Jesus will flow into us and through us into the lives of others. Feasting on Jesus will strengthen our faithfulness to Him and empower us to live the life God has called us to life. And when we have completed our ministry of service to Him and breathe our last, we will live on in eternity with Jesus and all the saints of God in the new heavens and the new earth.

So, have you been feasting on the Believers Bread lately? The more you eat of Jesus the more you will experience eternal life right now. When we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” we must never confine that request to the physical. We must always and in every way rise to the level of our Lord and seek Him each day, early and late, and when we do, we will be experiencing the abundant life that we have been promised in Jesus.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. (John 16:20)

Today we have a promise of unimaginable blessing when we understand what our Lord was telling His disciples then and His disciples today. Jesus told His disciples that He was going the way of death and they would see Him no more. But, after a little while, they would see Him again. His death would lead to His resurrection, demonstrating His ultimate power over the entire universe, including the last enemy death. The grief the disciples would experience on Good Friday when Jesus was crucified, dead, and buried, would turn to unimaginable gladness on that first Easter morning, when Jesus walked out of the grave alive and well.

In this life, we always have a choice in how we deal with what is going in our lives. We can live frustrated and defeated lives or we can live faithful and victorious lives, simply by keeping our focus on our Lord Jesus. Grief is real and it is right to grieve when we are facing storms in this life. But we do not grieve as those who have no hope. We hope in the One who conquered sin, Satan, and death and He is in control of every detail of our lives. When we keep our focus on our Lord, we will rise above the circumstances we are facing in life because Jesus had promised to turn our grief into gladness.

Remember, greater is the power that is at work in you than any power that comes up against you. But trusting in Jesus and depending upon Him in every set of circumstances in life that we face, we have the promise Jesus gave to His disciples 2,000 years ago – NO ONE WILL TAKE AWAY YOUR JOY. Give every grief to God and in His time and in His way, He will turn it all to gladness.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Our Lord gave to the apostle Paul a “thorn” in his flesh, a messenger of Satan, to maximize his ministry impact through a strength greater than his own . . . God’s strength. We are never told what that “thorn” was but we are told a few other things about the importance of it. First, it was given to Paul to keep him from becoming conceited. Next, Paul pleaded with the Lord to take it away, not once, but three times. And He did not. Finally, we read, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” This is what I call, “The Wonderful Witness of Weakness.”

Instead of removing the thorn and delivering Paul from his painful weakness, God chooses to demonstrate His Omnipotent power in and through Paul. Think about it this way. God delights in displaying His power through weak people like you and me. Paul had to totally depend upon God in order to fulfill his calling in his ministry. And the same is true for me and you. Weakness drives us into the presence of God where we trust in Him to give us all we need to do all He is calling us to do. The question is do we allow our weakness to witness to the awesome power and care of our Lord Jesus in our lives.

Remember, when we are strong in abilities or resources, we have a tendency to work in our own strength, in our way and in our time, which can lead to sinful pride. But when we are weak, we have no choice but to allow God to fill us to overflowing with His Power and His Grace to witness to His glory. Are you feeling weak today? Let your weakness witness to the power of your Great Savior.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18)

Perhaps you have seen the acronym – E.G.O. – Edging God Out. This is a problem for all of us as we all have a tendency to edge God out of our lives or at least confine Him to the circumference of our lives, because we have chosen to sit upon the throne of our lives. We all have a bit of Antonio Salieri in our hearts.

In Amadeus, a film about Mozart’s life, Antonio Salieri, an ambitious eighteenth-century composer offers this prayer up to God:

“Lord, make me a great composer. Let me celebrate Your glory through music and be celebrated myself. Make me famous throughout the world, dear God; make me immortal. After I die, let people speak my name forever with love for what I wrote. In return I will give You my chastity, my industry, my deep humility, my life.”

Antonio Salieri was a very successful composer, but his skill level never rose to the level of Mozart. Frustrated by the success of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who lived a debauched life before the face of God, Salieri turned away from God, believing God had betrayed him. He edged God out of his life. In a memorable scene in the movie, Salieri takes a crucifix from the wall of his room and places it into the fire. Selfish ambition blinded Salieri to the good gifts God had given him to be used for the good of others and God’s glory.

Have you been comparing yourself to anyone lately? Are you frustrated with the level of your accomplishments compared to others? Have you ever prayed a prayer like the one Salieri prayed, bargaining with God for your blessing? By nature, we all have some Salieri in our hearts which is why we must be on guard to keep E.G.O. at bay in our lives. Like Paul, we must learn to be content with our lot in life, even when compared to others, it’s not a lot! If you have Jesus, you have everything you need.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Thus you will walk in the ways of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous. (Proverbs 2:20)

How is your spiritual appetite lately? To you have a hunger for God? Is it possible to maintain a spiritual appetite throughout life? I want to encourage you today with two simple steps to maintain your spiritual appetite regardless of the circumstances you are facing in life, whether difficult or delightful.

#1 Remember God’s Love For You

The first step in maintaining your spiritual appetite throughout life is to remember “how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (Ephesians 3:18). Keeping the love of God in Christ Jesus before you will keep you hungry and thirsty for the living God. Remember, God does not love you because you are lovable. He loves you because you are His. God loves you perfectly in your every imperfection.

#2 Forsake Eating Folly Food

The second step in maintaining your spiritual appetite throughout life is to remember to forsake junk food. The God-sized hole in you can only be filled by God. When you try to fill it with anything smaller than Jesus, it will always leave you wanting. No matter how much success you experience in this life, nothing will satisfy the deepest desire of your heart – Jesus. Remember, “the discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly” (Proverbs 15:14). 

So, what have you been filling up on lately? When you make knowing God your highest priority in life, you will find your spiritual appetite growing throughout life. You will simply be unable to satisfy your hunger for all things holy. Stay in the Word of God. Stay in close communion with Jesus. Stay connected to your family of faith weekly. Remember God’s love for you and forsake eating folly food and God will continue cultivating your appetite for Him until the day you are brought into glory.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in your will carry it on to completion. (Philippians 1:6)

Perhaps you are familiar with the phrase “Plan B” as it relates to an alternative plan of action for use if the original plan should go awry. Regardless of where this finds you today, you’re still on God’s “Plan A” because in God’s economy in the life of the believer, there is no such thing as “Plan B.”

When we all look back at our lives, we see a past littered with mistakes and missteps, sins and shortcomings, causing us to fall short of God’s best for our lives. But no matter what we have been through, no matter how bad we may have messed up, God’s original “Plan A” is still in effect. God has not revoked His original plan for our lives. God has not repealed His original goal for our lives. God has not rescinded His original desire for our lives. God is using everything that has happened in our lives to bring us into the fulfillment of His “Plan A” for your life. And what is God’s “Plan A” in the life of every believer? In a word, Christ-likeness.

God has promised to work everything in our lives to accomplish His “Plan A” and conforming us into the image and likeness of His Son. God takes our successes and our failures, our victories and our defeats, and works it all together for our good and His glory, and nothing will keep God from making His “Plan A” come together and be fulfilled. Remember, God is in complete control of all things and is fitting together every decision, both good and bad, to make us more like Jesus. Let that truth set you free to rise above the waves of challenge knowing He who began the good work in you is bringing it to completion, in His time and in His way.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. (Ephesians 3:20)

Age related memory loss is part of the fall. We get old, we have a tendency to forget some things, and then we die. Yet, “Doxological Dementia” is not an age-related disease confined to the minds of those who are growing older. It affects all of us, both young and old alike, when we forget not only who we are, but even more importantly, Whose we are. Today’s doxology is designed to deliver us from a form of dementia that robs our joy, restricts our freedom, and retards our growth.

The apostle Paul uses a profound term to express God’s superabundant ability to bless us beyond our imagination. Here are a few other translations of what Paul is expressing: “immeasurable more” – “exceedingly abundantly above all” – “infinitely more.”  In other words, there is no limit to God’s ability to bless His people . . .  according to His power that is at work . . .  in every one of His children. The same power that raised Jesus from the grave, is the same power that is at work within us, moment by moment. Because we not only have finite minds, but finite minds that are fallen, broken, and sin-stained, we simply cannot comprehend the Cosmic Care God delivers to us daily, far above anything we can ask, imagine, dream, or desire.

Remember, because God is in Sovereign control of all things, in His infinite wisdom, authority, and power, He is working all things together for our ultimate good, even when it does not look like that on the surface. When you face circumstances that argue against your hope, hope anyway, because you have a God who is ready, willing, and able to bless you beyond what you could ever imagine. Because we are apt to forget and allow a bit of “Doxological Dementia” to seep in, it is critical to come into the presence of Jesus each day through prayer and the study of His Word.   

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright. (Genesis 25:34)

Esau’s hunger pangs got the best of him and he settled for some stew and sold his birthright to his brother Jacob. How often we find ourselves like Esau, settling for some momentary treasure over against our eternal destiny. So, when was the last time you settled for some stew instead of your Savior?

Think about it this way: God has given us many promises in His Word. But often, we are not willing to wait on the Lord to fulfill them in His way and in His timing. Abraham and Sarah had the promise of God that they would be the parents of a son. But from their perspective, it was taking God way too long to fulfill His promise. So, they took matters into their own hands. Sarah gave Abraham her servant and they had a child, that was not according to the promise of God. When we settle for stew over our Savior it blinds our eyes, binds our ears, and blocks our forward progress.

The key to keep from settling for some stew over our Savior is rooted in our focus. If we focus on the here and now, then we will likely settle for stew. But if we keep our focus on the there and then . . . living in the light of eternity . . . then we will rise above the temporal and settle for nothing less than the eternal. Only an eternal perspective will positively affect our earthly priorities. Jesus made it clear that we are all treasure hunters. The question we must ask and answer each day is: What treasure are we hunting for?

We all know by way of personal experience that it is a poor tradeoff indeed to settle for temporary pleasure when already have been given every imaginable eternal treasure in Jesus. But we must remember, we are children of the King and a royal priesthood by way of second birth. We must never sell our birthright to some temporal treasure, some earthly stew, when we have been given the greatest eternal treasure imaginable – Jesus.   

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!