I will be the first to admit I cautiously accepted grace. I looked and focused so much on the outward; it had to be right and perfect and anything less was unacceptable. Raised in a world of religious systems, the process has not been fast but slow. The doctrine I agree with, it makes sense but when it comes to the living out of the message, I will be honest to say i haven’t been as fast to catch on as I would like to be. However, the more I have yielded my (stubborn) heart the more I have come to realise that God is all about grace and giving and love and the more I catch on to this truth, the more I have begun to live in peace, forgiveness, clarity, answers to prayer and I really look at my life and say I have indeed come a long way.
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Jesus said as the Father sent me, so send I thee to His disciples and to us. In this context, I have always understood this verse to mean that Jesus’ assignment is my assignment. His work is today my work, for He said these signs shall follow them that I believe and greater works than these shall they do. Essentially, the word Christian simply means like Christ and it’s not about our physical appearance but really about how our lives on the outward are lived as they reflect Christ, in character, in love, in power and in purity and moreover the bible declares that the offices of the apostles, prophets, evangelists and teachers are for the equipping of the saints to train the saints until we all measure up to the full stature of Christ. And whenever I read these words “As the Father sent me so send I thee” all I felt was the burden to do and perform the works of Christ but last night, the Holy Spirit opened up my eyes to see the abundance of grace therein these words.
Jesus was sent as a Son, a fully accepted son who belonged and of whom the Father said I am well pleased before He began any active ministry. He was sent a man in perfect fellowship with the Father, never at any moment not accepted before God but always welcome and one whose prayers were always heard. He was sent a man without a record of sin or iniquity against Him. He was sent a man with a Father in heaven and a man to whose aid the angels were always ready and available and He said, “If I wanted I would have called a legion of angels to my aid and the father would have sent them” when peter cut of the ear of that guy in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Even the context and vein in which He spoke these words, it is between the mention, the assurance and the reassurance that we would not be left as orphans but rather that we would be given the ultimate gift of the Holy Spirit as a comfort, a strength, a guide and more. You see, when my eyes opened last night I realised this: Jesus is turning our attention to what grace is giving us, to what we are given without price so when we know the value of what we have in our hands, we cannot help but go and do what we are enabled to. A fast guy will want to take you to the track because he knows what he has and he has confidence in the ability he has in his hands. And you see, that is the nature of grace—it puts something into your hands and when you know what it is in you, you do what you have been enabled to do. For instance, someone loses a loved one in an accident—how many just have that compassionate wish to say I would want to give that son a n assurance that tomorrow will be ok, that there will be brighter day. How often do you wish you could just give an exam candidate, or a hopeful intern an assurance that what they have studied and are passionate about will be relevant in tomorrow’s world??? To at least one of the previous, you had a likely answer to say often or always and if we then truly become cognisant that the Spirit is with us, we can speak forth the prophetic word. Yes, that simply, demystified and without any hoodwinking or pulpit gymnastics to sway the crowd.
We do have an immense task at hand but God is an amazing leader, He only gives what we can handle and he does not ask us to do what He has not enabled us to do. Once we know what His grace has put in us, we will indeed the greater works do for it is not because of how long I have prayed, or how long I fasted or how much I denied myself but it is all about the free gift, all about the truth that we are sons of God not because of anything we do but simply because of the grace which is Jesus Christ our Lord.
Be blessed.