Grace, peace, and mercy from God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit!
Let’s focus on the first word of this greeting as an encouragement in our walk with God and our work in this ministry: Grace. What a marvelous word! Volumes have, and will be, written on the subject. The second talk of a Via de Cristo weekend is titled “Grace” and energizes the process of renewing our relationship with the creator, redeemer, and sanctifier of the universe. As you know what’s awe-inspiring about grace is God freely gives it. I once heard grace described as “God loves you no matter what – deal with it!” Grace and unconditional love is not very common in today’s world. A few questions inside a question for your reflection: “How do you deal with God’s amazing grace? Put it on a pedestal and worship it? Put it in the closet and bring it out only when it “seems” right? Exercise it daily in your dealings with others created in the image of God? Possibly something else?”
God’s grace and love for us, and all creation, is boundless. I suppose that discovery, coupled with the understanding that as believers in Jesus (God: Son), God: Holy Spirit is always with us, is what propels us, energizes us to do what we do in our daily lives and in this ministry. If you heard me say this before, it’s worth repeating: When you come face-to-face with God’s love, you realize that nothing, absolutely nothing you do or say will cause God to love you more. With that, everything is done in response to God’s love rather than to gain God’s love.
I love the priestly blessing recorded in Numbers 6:24. However, I modify the last word to reflect God’s grace and love for us. “The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you shalom.” Shalom is more than the absence of worry and conflict – it is the certain knowledge that God is with us: loving, guiding, comforting, and keeping us, now and forever.
In Christ –
Ed
Eric is our current Webmaster and works on the NLS Communications Team. Raised in Judaism, he found Christ and the New Testament at age 16 in a Southern Baptist Church. He searched many denominations for the real church, only to find the Holy Spirit is present in all of them. He's worked for One for Israel, a group of native Israeli believers who are sharing the gospel in the holy land in Hebrew and is part of the only Hebrew speaking seminary in Israel.
