April 21, 2008

There, but For the grace of God go I

Sickness – I had the privilege recently to be invited to a beauty pageant and it was awesome.  It wasn’t your typical pageant being that the participants were cancer survivors.  It was called living beautifully.  I was so blessed being at the event.  I was in tears hearing story after story of how the people were so glad to be alive and how their outlook on life changed once they found out they had cancer.

I was put to shame personally because these people had more life in one fingernail then I have in my entire body and I am healthy and not overcoming sickness or living with it.  I saw old people, middle-aged people, young people, and all in between and they were all thankful to be alive.  Most of them even gave glory to God.  It was one of the most humbling experiences I have ever been to.  As I was crying, all I could think was there but for the grace of God go I. 

I remember hearing this saying from Larry Johnson, an NBA basketball player from the Charlotte Hornets a number of years back.  He said this when the guys who are not as talented or had injuries that prevented them from performing at a high level would play a game just before the end of practice to keep their spots on the team.  He said I could be one of those players if I were injured and was fighting for my roster spot instead of being the star player.  Larry Johnson kept score of that game and when the reporter talked to him about it, He said, “There, but for the Grace of God go I.” 

This saying was first said by John Bradford a Christian Martyr when he was in a prison tower and he saw a criminal going to execution for his crimes.  John Bradford said, “there, but for the grace of God goes John Bradford.”  This saying is quoted when another sees someone in a worst condition then themselves.  These words ring true today just as they did some 500 years ago when John Bradford first uttered them. 

I started to think about how blessed and fortunate I am when I saw the cancer survivors living beautifully in-spite of grime circumstances.  At anytime, I could be in condition like them or of some other heartache, distress, or some unforeseen situation and it’s only by the grace of God that I have good health, have a job, and have some resources to live life comfortably on.  It made me think I need to be more thankful to Jesus for His blessings in my life and you should be thankful as well if life is going well for you.  It is only because of Him and that should get you to your knees to Thank God for His good fortune in your life because it could change then what sing will you be singing? 

The apostle Paul wrote about this very thing and how thankful he was for the grace of God.  Paul had many blessings and much heartache in his life but choose to be thankful for God’s grace in his life in the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 15.  

1 Corinthians 15: 9-10 (New King James Version)

9 For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

In verse 9, Paul is reminded of his life before Jesus, before he knew God’s grace and he was blown away at what God had done in his life.  Paul says I am the least of the apostles meaning I am not worthy to be in that category because he persecuted the church but God had other plans and called him to be an apostle in-spite of his past. 

The grace of God produces an attitude of gratitude and the apostle Paul was full of gratitude and thankfulness to God for his calling.  When it comes to your life, are you full of gratitude or are you asking God why me, and resentful toward God?  Whatever your situation may be, remember God has some much grace for you that it will replace sadness with joy, pain with peace, and bitterness with blessing.  All it takes is an attitude of gratitude adjustment and that my friend is your hands.

In verse 10, Paul starts with the grace of God again when he says, “But by the grace of God I am what I am.”  Paul is making it clear to all that everything he will ever become is because of the grace of God.  In fact, everything before he became a follower of Jesus Christ was because of the grace of God too.  Not the bad stuff but the fact that he lived to be given the chance to give his life to Jesus was a gift from God in the form of His grace given to Paul through Jesus Christ.

Grace is God’s gift to all people because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross.  That is salvation from sin and death and eternal life for all who believe.  Grace is also God looking out for us with His hand on our lives to help us become better children of God.  When tragedy comes our way, there is always someone who is in a worst condition then us so we are to be thankful for the grace of God in our lives and His many blessings.  In fact, the tragedies become blessings when we see God’s grace more clearly.  Tragedies hurt the same in all situations but the grace of God gets us through them with more of an attitude of gratitude and we are able to use those things to be an inspiration to other’s and help them experience the grace of God as well. 

I seen that so wonderfully at the living beautifully beauty pageant as cancer survivor after cancer survivor shared their stories of how cancer didn’t take their lives rather, it helped them live their lives more fully and that should be inspiration to all, especially to us who are cancer free.

The Challenge – Count your blessings and use that to move you to be more thankful for the grace of God in your life because without it, you would be lost and in bad shape.

As you are reflecting on God’s blessings in your life, take a big leap forward and share the grace of God with someone less fortunate then yourself because they need to know about the grace God wants to give them free of charge.

When life gets sticky and you start to grumble because we all do, remember you are blessed and have it better than most and say to yourself like John Bradford did 500 years before, “There, but for the grace of God go I.”

Be Blessed,

Joey

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