YOUR LIFE – A VEHICLE OF GRACE

Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus – 2 Timothy 2:1

“What God decreed to Hosea was neither normal nor natural, but the grace of God never is! There is nothing natural about God reaching out to a broken, rebellious sinner, nothing at all: it is supernatural.

Nowhere in the Old Testament is God’s grace more visual and vivid than when displayed in the household of Hosea. Beyond that threshold, there are some announcements worth hearing.

…Your life is a vehicle of grace. All of its gladness and sadness, all of its successes and sorrows: all of them are meant to tell the story of the loving heart of God. Just as the Almighty dared to use fireside experiences in the home of Hosea to declare His counsels, so He will use yours. God’s intent, regardless of how hard life may become, is to “sing the wonders of His grace.”

The heartache of Abraham and Sarah was used to tell the world of the substance of faith, what it is and how it works; Daniel was ripped from his family and flung into the slaveries of Babylon, scorched with temptation and intimidation. But, he was used to tell the world what faithfulness really is, fidelity in the midst of life’s hottest fires. Hosea was used, with all his shame and suffering, to tell the world of the relentless love of God, what extent and to what extremes the Lord would go to save.

God uses your life as a means to declare Himself to an unseeing and unhearing world. While they will not see Him or listen to His voice, they do see you and hear yours. Your very life is meant to be a pulpit in which the great counsels of God are preached.

In the late 20’s, a man gave a beautiful organ to a new church. Shortly after his gift, the Wall Street crash came and he was left penniless. Finally, the financeer became an attendant on an elevator. Someone asked if he were ever regretful that he had given the thousands of dollars for the organ. “No,” said he, “it is all that I have left; on my lunch hour, I delight in listening to the noon-tide recitals, then I return to my elevator and share the love of Christ.” Those about him saw another organ, not one played by some maestro of the console, but the Master, called the Christ. His life became a vehicle of grace.”