Discovering Grace

Whenever we think of grace, we think of God’s unmerited favor to us the sinner.  He voluntarily shares the gift of salvation through Christ.  That in itself is a cause for rejoicing.

But Paul speaks of “the grace given him” by God (1 Corinthians 3:10; Galatians 2:9; Ephesians 2:2, 7-9; 1 Timothy 1:12; use this link to read these verses at Bible Gateway,http://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=the+grace+given+me&qs_version=NIV).

The grace God gave Paul was the ministry of reconciliation, particularly to the Gentiles.  Paul would always approach the Jews first, that is how God revealed and administered his grace to the world, to the Jew first.  If he found a Jewish community wherever he went, once he had preached to them (and often they rejected the message about Jesus) Paul went to preach to the Gentiles.  The time he spent in Athens and spoke to the philosophers in the Areopagus on Mars Hill (Acts 17) is one of those times.

The ministry of grace was the ministry to spread the Good News of Jesus, because he had received grace from God, even describing himself as the greatest of sinners (1 Timothy 1:5).

Are you a Christian?  Have you considered the ministry of grace God has given you?  God has sent each of us with this message.  Maybe as an evangelist.  Maybe as a servant.  Maybe as a social worker, or an engineer, or through encouragement or any other number of ways.

Paul sacrificed to be able to fulfill his ministry of grace.  He went through ridicule, beatings, imprisonment, ship-wreck and more to see that he was able to tell about Jesus.

Your ministry, whatever it is, involves your salvation, your sacrifice, boldness supplied by the Spirit, mission and ministry, love, joy, hope, everything that God gives that you get to share with the rest of the world.

I have found the most effective way for me to share about Jesus is to work with teens through church camps, conferences, and residential care facilities.  God has done more through me in those ways than in small one-on-one situations and I thank God for the benefit he gives others because of my ministry of grace.

God’s grace is seen in the life of the believe as we