God has taken me through several phases in my ministry. Initially, it was 'Make yourself available'. Through that phase, I was guided to participate in mission trips, teach classes I would not otherwise have taught, to just generally do whatever was asked of me, and volunteer for everything that after providing for and making sure my family had all the quality time they needed. Phase 2 if you will was, "Honor your spiritual chain of command", in which I had to learn to die to myself, and follow the directions of those that the Lord had placed over me. This was not hard, but I learned a very necessary lesson along the way. Until lately, I have been in Phase 3: "Be diligent in what I have given you". I have been in that phase since the Lord called me to Bonney Lake to start a bible Study there and eventually plant what is now the small but healthy CCBL.
I feel now that while the Lord is not done with me in Phase 3 (I doubt He ever will be…), that He has added a Phase 4. This phase is turning out to be, "Desire and Share My Grace".
This phase of learning is a difficult one for me. I know that sounds terrible. "My pastor has a hard time offering grace!", would be an awful thing to have to say. And I hope that those who know me well enough know that this is not true. What I am having a hard time with is God's stretching of me in my understanding of what grace is, and how far reaching it needs to be applied. These are the areas where God's stretching is opening old scabs. But the more He teaches me, and the more circumstances He allows me to go through,. The more I do understand His grace, and the more I see how He and the Holy Spirit have been working in my life to orchestrate some awesome revelations and healings.
Understanding grace, by biblical definition is simple. Grace is typically and acceptably defined as simply unmerited favor. That understanding comes easy. It is the far-reaching application of the depth of this understanding that requires work. Why? Because to do so, we must first understand who WE are in Christ (as my good friend and mentor Justin Alfred has often said, 'we are nothing more than the wart on the backside of a hog.' I have found, by God's grace mind you, that I am the infected pimple on that wart. As awful as that sounds, this is how we must see ourselves if we are to fully understand the far-reaching effects of God's unlimited grace.
Once we have allowed ourselves to see who we are in Christ, a humbling experience in itself, then the real growth comes. With this new understanding in mind, we then have to allow ourselves to be stretched by God beyond anything we have ever experienced before. God will undoubtedly show you that our allowances of grace, and our application of it to others has been woefully, dare I say, sinfully inadequate. He will show us that we do not apply grace where we should. That we have not applied grace often enough. He may even bring you to an understanding that maybe, just maybe (as He has done in me), that sometimes we need to apply grace even when there has been an offense against God! Wow, unbelievable.
When we see someone who has either taken advantage of their freedom in one of life's many gray areas to the point where boundaries have been crossed in our minds, and even to the point where we feel sin may be, or may have been the result, we must control our thoughts, taking them all captive unto Christ, go to that person in love and GRACE, expressing your thoughts on the matter, but ALWAYS allowing God to deal with the offense. We must also consider grace through prayer. Perhaps God simply wants us to keep our big yappers shut, and go to Him in the strength of payer and fellowship, lifting up this person in our hearts.
Now understand this: What I am not saying is that we do not hold our brothers and sisters accountable. We have a responsibility, even a duty to protect fellow believers from the influences of the world. We look out for each other, we are the body (singular) of Christ. But what I am saying is that we need to hold them accountable to the Lord, not to US. If we go to someone because we see bad fruit, and we do so because there is an offense in our heart that has caused us bitterness or anger, do not go. Only go when you can, through God's grace, show that person unmerited favor, with a clean heart, with no malice in mind, and simply point them to Jesus. That's grace. And that's hard.
Grace may cause you to see things, and do things that do not 'feel' right. It may cause us to love someone that, at least at that moment we do not want to love. But considering who you are in Christ, aren't you glad He did the same for you?!
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