A Beautiful Grace from God 12/30/2010

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I remember many moments holding my weeping wife and crying out in my heart to God in the midst of certain loss. “Lord,” I prayed over and over, “you can do what you will, but I’m going to pray right now for an “Beautiful Grace”, a sign of your beautiful grace in our life. At the time we did not know the sex of our child and as the words were coming out of my mouth the thought crossed my mind that maybe it was just too much to pray for a little girl when I should have been focused on just having a healthy child. After several weeks of great worry and distress, DEILmom's pregnancy progressed and our worries of losing our child subsided.

I’ll never forget the moment I first saw our first child, gave her her first bath as she screamed louder than I thought possible (certainly her lungs were healthy), and handed her to her mother. Sitting there holding our little girl, having already called the grandparents on the other side of the globe, I was suddenly overwhelmed to the point where my mind drifted to another place for several moments. I suddenly remembered those prayers prayed in desperation during those early weeks of pregnancy. I remembered my prayer for a little girl— “Beautiful Grace.” I realized that God had answered my prayer even in the midst of serious worry and doubt.

In this moment of truth I knew nowhere else to go…but to my Father. Like Paul, I wanted nothing more than for my wife and child to be safe and healthy. I wanted nothing more than for this little girl to become a part of our family.

The overflow…

May the God of hope fill you will all joy and peace as you trust in him,
so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

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Our Task of the Church 09/06/2010

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1 Corinthians 5:9-11

When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people.

It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person from among you.”

Take a moment to reflect on the incredibly powerful message that Paul is giving here.

1) If we are living the kind of life we are intended to live (a life of mingling in and among the people of the world as salt and light) then we cannot, and should not, avoid the sinners around us. Indeed, these are the people for whom Christ came and for whom he died. It is impossible to live a truly holy life apart from the world in which we live. What did John Wesley say-there is not holiness apart from social holiness?

2) Who are the people that we need to be very careful of? Those who claim to believe yet indulge in sin. This is the sin against the Spirit that is talked of in other places throughout Scripture. It’s the worst kind of sin-to claim to be renewed but to still harbor old habits; to claim to follow Christ when our real desire is for fame, power, sex, or something else; to take the name of Christ and dirty-ing it up before a watching world. The world is watching…what do they see?

3) God will judge those outside the church, outside the community of faith. That’s not our task. Let us (I know I’m in this process) be about the task of strategically and intentionally arranging our lives according to the great mission that Christ has given to us-to make disciples; to be hope in our world; to be a preserving agent (salt) in our world; to be a blessing to the searching people of our world; and to be Good News as we carry the Good News to the people around us.

May Christ’s church-that’s us-be a shining light on the hill where God has strategically places us. And may all we do be for his glory.  Amen

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