August 2018 Newsletter Article
“If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,’ and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?”
(rf.Jas. 2:15–16 NASB)
Jesus told His disciples, “To whom much is given, much is required.” When we hear that statement, we typically think first of those who have been blessed with a great deal of material wealth and how these, in particular, are accountable to God for sharing their resources with those less fortunate than they are. Though there is a sense of this dynamic present within the content of this text, the real application is much more potent.
We, as believers in Christ, are recipients of abundant grace, varying in types and experiences. We each have been gifted by the Holy Spirit with special spiritual abilities that are uniquely tied to the particular arenas of service to which we have been called within His Church. We are meant to exercise both gifts and grace in our everyday lives as a means of expression of our love and devotion to the Lord and as a clear way to show His love for others. In this way, we effectively portray ourselves as His hands and His feet.
That being said, as we address the concern of the above text, Jesus touches our hearts to show us how easily we can fall away from God’s template for us. Rather than addressing a present, real need in the life of another, we can simply, but wrongly, dismiss the other out of hand, believing the matter settled and ourselves “off the hook”. On the other hand, Jesus shows us that the Lord is offended by our actions when we do not extend His grace to others and discloses that our hearts are greatly in need of recalibration.
As His followers, we should delight in being instruments of His grace to those around us, watching Him transform the lives of people before our eyes. Granted, this will not occur with every encounter, but we will experience it all the more if grace becomes our typical response.
So, let us commit ourselves to see others through the eyes of Christ, willing less to pronounce judgment and more to extend mercy. After all, did not the Lord Himself reserve “vengeance” for Himself and judgment to His own wisdom (rf. Heb. 10:30)? We are mainly called to be fruit inspectors (rf. Mt. 7:20) and then only for the purpose of restoration by grace. Thus, we connect with and meet His grace at every turn. Then let us show this same grace to others whenever possible.
