Gracious Lives

We are commanded to "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." That, of course, is impossible if I am not a person of grace. When I hold grudges, harbor bitterness toward others for past wrongs, or complain to God that my current circumstances are unfair--I have no grace in my life to grow. How can I grow in grace and the knowledge of Him when I refuse to forgive as He forgave, refuse to submit to His will as He submitted to the Father's will, and refuse to cast all my burdens on the One who is perfect grace? How can I grow up into the image of the Grace Giver when I refuse to be a grace giver? Impossible.
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We have lost track I think of a dynamic truth--the Church is the body of Christ. There is not the Church in India, the Church in Africa, the Church in Russia, the Church in North America, but only the Church. The predominately Gentile believers in the first century took offerings to help meet the needs of the predominantly Jewish believers in Jerusalem. They, in fact, insisted that offerings be taken to meet those needs. Why? Because it was a mutual--shared--need. If anyone had a need in the early church--the church at its purest--everyone had a need. Thus, everyone else's need was my responsibility to meet. If I was hungry, wouldn't I use my resources to feed my body? Well, the church is hungry. Shouldn't we be using our resources to feed the Body? If I was hurting, wouldn't I do all I could to ease my body's suffering? Well, the church is hurting and in pain. Shouldn't we be using all our resources to help the Body and combat its suffering and pain? In the body of Christ it is never "them." It is always "us." I'm afraid the "eye" is saying to the broken "foot" "Your needs mean nothing to me." It should mean everything to me. One of the greatest evangelistic "tools" of the early church was the great love they showed to one another. Deeds love. When the Apostles preached of the love of God, no one who observed the church doubted that God was indeed the Lover of His people. May the Church, the Body of Christ, embrace the mutual responsibility for all its "parts" scattered throughout the world. When we tell the world that God so loved the world that He gave . . . When we tell the world that Jesus lovingly and willingly gave Himself for others . . . May the world by looking at our actions toward one another be unable to question, let alone deny, that God is indeed love.

"Anyone who claims to love God whom He cannot see but does not love his brothers and sisters in Christ whom he can see, is a liar. The love of God is not at home in his heart."