Grace for the Race

Satan replied, “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has?” (Job 1:10)

The term “hedge” in the Scriptures illustrates God’s supernatural, strategic system of protection for His people from the slings and arrows of the evil one. We wake up each morning and find ourselves centered within the crosshairs of the world, the flesh, and the devil, all seeking to harass us and hinder the work God is doing in us and through us. But our gracious God, who has promised never to leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), provides “holy hedges” for our protection.

God is our Shield of Protection; He is our Holy Hedge. Here are three passages from the Psalms that reinforce this biblical truth:

Let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them sing for joy. Spread your protection over the, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. (Psalm 5:11)

In the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock. (Psalm 27:5)

The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. (Psalm 34:7)

The story of Job makes it clear that God’s holy hedge around us does not mean that we will never experience the sorrows and suffering of life. Because we live in a fallen and broken world with other fallen and broken people, difficulties and distress are simply part of this life. But we must remember this: if God does not protect us from a storm – He will protect us in the storm. God has promised to be with us in every storm we face and to bring us to the other side of it . . . whether in this life or the next. Because God knows what is best for us all the time, we are to trust in His goodness and receive all that happens in our lives with thanksgiving.

The book of James tells us to receive our trials with joy, because God is using all of them to grow and mature us in our faith as He conforms us to the image of Christ. Believe me, I am well aware that this is not easy, but genuine thanksgiving and joy are the only right responses to the One who laid His life down for us that we might live with Him — not just for eternity, but right now, in our everyday lives.

Look to Jesus. Learn from Jesus. Lean on Jesus! He is in control of everything in your life and has promised to be with you and to protect you.

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

Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love . . . (1 Thessalonians 1:3 (KJV))

The title of today’s word of encouragement is a popular phrase that refers to any work done for no financial compensation, because it is work that is motivated and manifested by a heart that overflows with thanksgiving for the service one is providing. You can see from today’s Scripture passage that our English phrase finds its origin in these words penned by the apostle Paul to the church at Thessalonica.

Another way you could express “labor of love” would be “Labor driven and directed by love.” And therein lies the key to serving the Lord in a way that brings honor and glory to His name. Whether the work is paid or volunteer matters not. What matters is the “why” behind the work we are doing. Are we doing it for the money? Are we doing it for the applause of man? Are we doing it for our own glory? Or are we doing it simply as an act of love and thanksgiving to Jesus for all He has done for us?

Everything we do should be a labor of love to our Lord. The more time we spend in the presence of our Lord, the better we will understand how His love empowers, encourages, and equips us to live our lives, moment by moment, in the light of His love.

So here is the big question: Is the job you are currently doing a labor of love to your Lord? Regardless of what it is you are doing, from changing the world to changing diapers, your work matters to God, and He wants you to do it for His glory and the expansion of His Kingdom.

Remember, Jesus saved you for relationship, and that relationship must not be compartmentalized. Jesus is to be sitting on the throne of every aspect of your life, including your work. Work is a gift from God; the way we do our work is our gift back to Him. May the confession of our work be a labor of love for our Lord, regardless of what kind of work we are doing.

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

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. (Galatians 3:13)

Since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the entire human race has been living in exile – far away from God and our true home. In the ancient world, a conquered people would be exiled from their homeland to be made slaves in the land of the conqueror. This brought with it a special kind of sorrow, and the people of Israel experienced this as a result of God’s judgment on them for their continued idolatry and disobedience. But when we read through both the Old and New Testaments, we should read all of it as an “end-of-exile” story that finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

When Jesus shows up in our lives, we begin our long journey home – not by our own efforts, but rather by His. You see, the journey is too long; the road is too rough; and the travel is too exhausting. Only in His strength can we make our way back into our Promised Land. When Jesus left heaven, took on flesh, and dwelt among us, He was on a divine rescue mission. He came to redeem us from our exile, and He did it by way of the cross. Jesus willingly laid down His life for all those who would trust in Him alone for eternal life.

Remember, through His sinless life, sacrificial death, and supernatural resurrection from the grave, Jesus heralded the end of our exile by inaugurating His eternal kingdom. God’s wrath was poured out on Jesus, and all the curses of the covenant were fulfilled because of His faithfulness. Jesus is the True Israel, and through His total obedience to His Father, He set the captives free, and that includes you and me. So today we are simply pilgrims passing through this temporal world as we make our way to our eternal home in the new heavens and earth. May this be the confession of our lives.   

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

Whoever is patient has great understanding . . . (Proverbs 14:29)

You’ve probably heard it more than a hundred times throughout your life: “Patience is a virtue.” The question is, do we even know how to define the word patience? One of the best definitions I have seen for patience is “Waiting without complaining.” Is there anyone reading these words who would say that is an easy thing to do?

When the sky is blue, the clouds are fleecy, and everything is going our way, the practice of patience is relatively easy. But when the waves of challenge begin to crash over us, we have a tendency to grow impatient . . . quickly! I know that’s true of me. And at those times, I must remind myself that the Word of God praises patience as a fruit of the Holy Spirit in the life of the disciple of Christ. Patience is a gift that is given to every believer, and the patience we show in our lives reveals our faith in, our trust in, and our dependence on our Redeemer.

Let us return to that definition of patience — waiting without complaining — and add some important insight into the word waiting. Waiting is not a posture of passivity or resignation; it is filled with activity that is submitted and surrendered to the will of God.

Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus . . . (Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV)

It’s hard to imagine someone winning a race by passively waiting on all the other runners. Rather, to run with endurance is to proceed with perseverance through the the challenging circumstances that will inevitably come against us. Remember, this is a practice; patience will not be developed in a day, but daily. God will allow us to enter into circumstances that are designed to test our faith and train our faithfulness.

Our goal is to keep on looking to Jesus, knowing that He has promised to bring us through our race with freedom, joy, and faithfulness, bringing glory to God and good to all others.

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

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. (James 1:2)

It is vitally important for Christians to understand that God has infused purpose into our pain; when we do recognize that biblical reality, the key is to make sure we don’t waste any of our pain. As we all know from personal experience, life on this side of the grave is not all green pastures, still waters, and mountaintop experiences. All the stories you read in the Bible about the heroes of the faith are filled with one painful providence after another. So the question that must be answered is this: “What will you do with what you’ve been through?”

We’re all familiar with the phrase “growing pains.” As we grow up physically, we go through growing pains — times of physical and emotional awkwardness and discomfort — as the body is transforming from child to adult. This phrase “growing pains” also reflects a biblical truth for all those who are disciples of our Lord Jesus. Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). And where was Jesus going? To a cross, to die an unimaginably agonizing death in our place so that we might have eternal life by trusting in Him alone.

Regardless of the storms you have endured throughout your life, God has brought you through every one of them. He has used every wave of challenge crashing over you and all the storm winds that buffeted you to grow and mature you in your faith. Were some of these times painful? I’m sure they were! Were there times when you reacted to them awkwardly? Perhaps even angrily? I know I certainly have. But God brought you and me through those experiences each and every time. And I’m quite sure that even now you can look back on some of them and see how your faith was strengthened because of them.

Wherever this message finds you today and whatever storm may be battering you relationally, professionally, or personally, remember these words from our Lord Jesus: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33). May that truth set us free to make the most out of every painful providence that God sends into our lives.

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

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. (Ephesians 4:14)

Because God’s greatest goal for us is to conform us to the likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ, we must live out the importance of growing up, not just growing old. Think about it this way: I can’t imagine anyone saying they want to be the same person today that they were a year ago. Those who are not committed to growing up in their faith are stuck in perpetual spiritual infancy.

Spiritual growth is not automatic after Jesus has raised us from death to life. Spiritual growth requires that we want to grow, decide to grow, do the work to grow, and persist in growing. This, of course, is a lifelong process that will not be completed until we are brought into glory. And inasmuch as it is all of grace, it will not be completed without our commitment.

We all know about commitment; we are all committed to something. The question is, Are we committed to growing and maturing in the faith? Identifying our commitments will make the answer to that question crystal clear. Here are a few of these indicators: your prayer life; your Bible reading plan; your weekly church attendance; your generosity; your service to the expansion of the cause of Christ; your thought life.

If we are to grow up and become more like Jesus, we must desire to develop the mind of Jesus. We have to think His thoughts, and Paul expressed this commitment beautifully:

Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things (Philippians 4:8).

If we are going to succeed at this, we must be careful about what we are putting into our minds. We must be on guard to fill our minds with the wisdom of God’s Word, not the wisdom of this world.  At this level of living, we will be certain that we will not only be growing older, but we will also be growing up.  

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

Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing. Instead, let us encourage one another. (Hebrews 10:25)

Once we understand that we have been saved to be part of a family of faith, we must answer the question, How do we cultivate community? The answer is, “With frequency!” If we are to grow relationships within our family of faith, we must frequently make meaningful contact in genuine fellowship. Growing any relationship takes time, which is why our verse for today encourages us to keep meeting together.

If we are serious about building community, we must never forget that community is not built on convenience, but on commitment and conviction. We can’t just come together when we feel like it, because, truth be told, all too often we simply don’t feel like it! We must be intentional about carving time out of our busy schedules because it is so important for all of us to be growing in community.

Just as lions who are hunting for a meal lurk near the outer edges of a herd of zebras, watching for one unfortunate creature who has carelessly strayed away from the protection of the herd, solitary saints are the number one target of the evil one. Satan is always on the prowl, looking for those who are living outside of community in order to devour them. This, as you know, is much harder for him to do when you are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.

One of the keys that unlocks the door to building community is forsaking self and focusing on our Savior, who died to give us relationship with Him and with all those who are His. We must be willing to jettison …

• Self-absorption
• Self-centeredness
• Self-rule

Remember this: We are going to spend eternity with our family of faith in the new heavens and the new earth, so the more time we spend with them here and now, the better we will be prepared for the there and then. The church as a whole is far more important than any individual.

As my friend Steve Brown likes to say, “All those who belong to Jesus belong to all those who belong to Jesus.” Let that truth set us free today to cultivate community.

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

What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? Not all all! (Romans 3:3-4)

The more time we spend in the Word of God, the more familiar we become with His promises. The evil one works relentlessly to sow seeds of doubt in our minds, particularly when we are wavering in our walk, to cause us to shrink back from pressing into God’s promises and living the life God is calling us to live. But today’s passage makes one thing perfectly clear: Nothing we do can nullify any of the thousands of promises God has made to His people.

Here are just a few verses from both the Old and New Testaments to encourage you today. God has promised . . .

Remember, what God has promised, God will do. He assures us, “What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do” (Isaiah 46:11). God has never broken a promise in the past, and He is not about to start now. Look to the promises of God, and let them propel you into His perfect plan and purpose for your imperfect life.

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

The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. (Psalm 145:9)

Our God is in the blessing business, and I can assure you He wants to do more than bless your food! Yet for far too many brothers and sisters in our family of faith, that is as far as they go when it comes to seeking the blessings of God. We serve a BIG GOD, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, and we ought to be looking to Him each day for BIG BLESSINGS.

God wants us to come to Him with open minds, open hearts, and open hands, ready to receive all that He has in store for us. God wants us to trust more, seek more, believe more, wait more, expect more, pray more, and depend more. God wants us to pour out our lives out in service to Him for His glory and the good of all others. As we engage in advancing the cause of His big Kingdom rather than our own little kingdom, God will bless our efforts beyond our wildest imaginations.

Perhaps you are facing a challenge that seems impossible to overcome. Never forget, Christian, that with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). Hudson Taylor, the great 19th-century missionary to China, said this about God doing the impossible: “There are three stages to every great work of God: first it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done.” Remember, even when circumstances argue against all hope, we are still to have hope. Because Jesus is our Living Hope, we have a hope that nothing in this world can affect.

What would you like God to bless in your life right now? Come into His Presence and share what is on your heart. And then prepare to be blessed, because God wants to bless more than your food. Remember, He who began a good work in you has promised to complete it, and there is no greater blessing than that.

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

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? (Matthew 6:26)

In this portion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was teaching about worry. He made it clear that the reason we are not to worry is because He has promised to meet our every need. Now, don’t confuse worry with concern. To be concerned is to be moved to action through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Worry, on the other hand, keeps you from moving at all. It simply paralyzes any meaningful forward progress.

Jesus pointed to the birds and their complete lack of any concern about their daily needs being met. Birds do not sow, reap, or store away in barns, yet their every need is met. And because we, as image-bearers of the Most-High God, are much more valuable than the birds, worry simply makes no sense at all.

Here is something an anonymous author gave us to think about:

Said the robin to the sparrow,

“I should really like to know,

Why these anxious human beings

Rush about and worry so.“

Said the sparrow to the robin,

“Friend, I think that it must be,

That they have no heavenly Father

Such as cares for you and me.“

Only by pressing into the presence of our Lord Jesus each day will our lives begin to reflect the attitude of the birds. Worry will be as far as the east is from the west when we look to Jesus, trusting in His promise to meet our every need. Jesus will always make good on every one of His promises; you have His Word on that!

So let the next bird you see remind you that God cares for you completely!

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