I have been asked to give you all a gift tonight. It’s actually a gift you already have, so this is just a duplicate or reminder of what you already have...
Pass out gifts.
There’s a couple of things in your gift box. First there’s a cross. We use the cross as a symbol of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He died on the cross so that we could be saved. . . saved from any and every thing we have ever done or ever will do. We were forgiven even before we did something ungodly.
Then, there’s a number of cards. You can carry them in your purse or wallet or leave them on your desk or throw them out. The first card tells of God’s Grace. This is God’s measure of love given to all of us. It is a quote from the book of Titus. . . The kindness and love of God our Savior toward man.
The second card just reads Grace. This is one of those things that is really hard to explain just right. Grace is God’s love toward us; it is His mercy and forgiveness for us. It is something we cannot earn. We have had it since we were born. This is God’s most amazing gift. It is there and has been there all the time. In today’s world, it is hard to comprehend getting something for nothing and we always figure there is a catch. With Grace, there is no catch. It belongs to you and is yours forever.
I had trouble comprehending this. It wasn’t until about 7 years or so ago that it finally hit me. Here was God, already forgiving me for things I had done against Him and was offering me love, understanding, mercy and grace before I even asked for it. And He was watching over me all that time. I never even said thanks. Can you imagine, receiving God’s blessing even while we sin? I couldn’t.
No conditions, no catches, just pure love for no reason other than He is our God.
The next card reads Faith. This is how I missed that gift of grace. I did not have faith that God was there for me at all times. I did not have faith enough to understand that God had really forgiven me for all the wrong things I did. Surely, He would seek to punish me somehow. Surely, He could not have forgiven everything I did.
There was even a time in my life when I did not have enough faith to imagine that God was even real. I abandoned God, but He never abandoned me. My faith in Him was weak, but His faith in me never stopped. Hard to imagine.
Trust is on the next card. We begin to develop trust and faith as children. We have faith that food will be given to us when we get hungry. We trust that when Dad says jump, he will catch us. Some of us learned to trust a little less than others. We may have had a childhood that taught us that we had to be careful how and whom we trusted. Even Mom and Dad could not always be trusted. Remember that first trip to the doctors when you were old enough to reason and they told you the shot would not hurt very much. Well you sure didn’t trust or believe them the next time it came for a shot.
So, we sometimes find it hard to trust God. We find it hard to believe that He is there to help and guide us or that He will even try. We wind up trying to help ourselves and usually fail miserably. It is hard to trust unconditionally.
God uses His grace and forgiveness to give us Hope. I first read the quote on this card in a skit we did for one of our retreats. It has stuck with me for quite a while. Hope is the feeling I get that the feeling I have won’t last. Hope is knowing that God is always and forever in our corner, trying to help and trying to get us to follow the path that He has planned for us. Hope is knowing that God will take care of you, in every way. Hope comes in understanding God’s grace, mercy and forgiveness, knowing that He will always be standing right next to you to offer a hand whenever you ask.
We have been given all these gifts of Grace, Forgiveness, Trust, Faith and many more only because God loves us. We cannot begin to understand completely the depth of God’s love. God gave us His son. He let us persecute and execute Him just so we would not have to pay for our sins. Can you imagine the cost if it were not for Jesus? Can you imagine the torment that we would have to suffer for all the wrong we have done? We would not be able to stand up against it. We would beg to die.
But God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to bear our burdens and suffer in place of us. Jesus was crushed and died under the heavy load, but God raised Him from death and defeated all our sins for us. So my load is very light compared to what it might have been without Jesus. I can stand up and easily carry what is mine. This is love.
The word obey, brings up all kinds of negative feelings. We must obey our boss, we must obey our teachers, we must obey our parents and pastors and so many others. . . We get tired of obeying. But with God, obeying is more of a privilege. He knows what is best. He tries to show us the way. Obeying God is more like listening than being forced to do something. Obeying God is our way to peace and freedom.
Because we have grace and because we have the love of God, we will soon be able to understand that God wants only what is good for us. He does not create disasters and hardship in our lives. He wants to help us when this earthly mess we live in, rises up to swallow us. All we need to do is obey Him. That means listening when he tries to tell us to go right instead of left. That means trusting and having faith that He knows what’s right. We need to listen. God gets tired of yelling.
