Encouragement

Picture yourself standing on top of a shaky little bridge, constructed for emergency purposes to provide access from point A to point B. If you walk too fast, you sense yourself tipping over. But if you also walk too slowly, you are consumed with the anxiety of whether you will reach the other side safely. So what you really need is a balanced walk, a careful progress that will ensure the best results.

There are many instances in my life that I have gone through as if I was walking on a tottering bridge. The thing that has sustained me is having a firm grip on my faith in Jesus Christ, the Rock of my salvation.

From the end of the earth, I will call to you when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Psalm 61:2

To make my faith concrete, I have come up with what I call my seven measures of grace.

1.   The grace to love

It is easy to love the lovable. But to love those that cause me pain and misery is a different story altogether. That is when I need the grace to love and that can only come from Christ himself. He was good at loving the unlovable, one of them being me, a broken sinner when I finally gave my life to him.

2.   The grace to forgive

If loving is difficult, wait until I try and forgive someone for betraying me, lying about me, hurting or stealing from me. A man in the Bible was pardoned by the king for failing to pay a debt for ten thousand talents, but guess what, he found it difficult to pardon someone who owed him a mere hundred denarii, (Matthew 18). I expect others to forgive me when I offend them, and sometimes I even demand it. But if the situation is reversed, how I struggle. And that is when I must cry out to God for the grace to forgive my offenders. He forgave me, continues to forgive me and I must do the same for others.

3.   The grace to pray

Oh, how I enjoy giving praise for the good things that happen in my life. I can easily pick up the phone and call friends and spread the fragrance of my joy. Sometimes I am even notorious for spreading the fragrance of my misery too! Everyone must just know that I am hurting; really? But how quick am I to pick up that phone and find out how that person is doing so that I can pray more for them. And how quick am I to fall down on my knees and pray to the God who sees all, when the world threatens to crush me? I need the grace to pray, just as much as I need the grace to love and forgive.

4.   The grace to serve

Do I have enough of the grace to serve God and fellow Christians with an unswerving and an unquestioning heart? Do I analyze everything else before I can do what should be obvious? I can love, forgive and pray, but sometimes I must just drop what I am busy with and rush to serve in that simple and unassuming way.

5.   The grace to give

Giving of my time is something that I struggle with. I prefer to just lie low, do my thing and let the world go by. I can drop some finances here and there when in a position of plenty, but giving of myself is a real issue. That is when I need to call upon the grace of God to give the most precious of me when that is what is important.

A story is told of one humble poor man who walked up to the altar at offering time and said these precious words: ‘I am a poor man and I have nothing to give to God, but I will give him of myself if he will take me’. He became a renowned evangelist.

6.   The grace to fight

I am a fighter by nature. I fight for what I believe in and for those I love. I fight for them as I consistently reach out to them in love and I fight for them as I bow my head to pray for them. But unless I reign the judgemental spirit that so often distorts my emotions, I fight from a weaker position. If I am to successfully fight for relationships, the main area of attack by the devil, I need the grace to fight from a position of authority, love, and faith in the God who can do the impossible.

7.   The grace to live

Oh, how easy it is to just give up, resign, fold hands, surrender, pack my bags and leave. Sometimes my battles get so intense, and in my panic and fatigue, all I want is to just give up. Right now I am facing a number of tough situations all around me. I have a recipe that could easily work; take flight! But I want to live; not just breathe or exist. I want to live the life that God has for me despite the challenges or obstacles I face. He will give me the grace to bear up under the burden, and that is all I need.