Volunteering as the adult education administrator at our church years ago, one of my tasks was to schedule teachers to lead the class each week. It wasn’t always easy—people are busy and preparation takes time—so to my invitations, understandably, came some “no” responses and some reluctant “yeses.” But whenever I asked Joe to teach, his answer was almost always the same, “I’d be happy to help.” Not only did he eagerly embrace the opportunity to teach from God’s Word, he graciously relieved me of my burden du jour. Over time, Joe’s enthusiasm influenced me, as twenty-some years later I often find myself responding to the entreaties of others, “I’d be happy to help.” Grace is contagious, isn’t it?
We often think of God’s grace as a needed, yet undeserved gift showered upon us in deluge proportions. Over the past two weeks, for instance, we have marveled at our right standing before God (righteousness) and our rescue from eternal separation from Him (salvation), both loving gifts of God through His servant-Son, Jesus Christ, who lives in us through faith. Yet receiving God’s grace is just the beginning for us, the starting point of a lifetime adventure, for just as God pours out His favor on us, so also He flows His favor through us as conduits to others. Saved by His grace through faith,1 we are now “God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”2 Not only may we participate in meaningful acts of eternal consequence, God has had them prepared for us for a very long time. And He equips us for that to which He calls us: “God is able to bless you abundantly,” taught Paul, “so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”3
“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms,”4 wrote Peter. Some teach, some encourage, some help, some exhort, some intercede—maybe you major in some of these and minor in others, or perhaps your gifts are entirely different. Regardless of our individual callings, though, I think readiness looks the same: remain near to God through the Word and prayer; expect His call to action; resolve to do what He directs you to do; and trust Him for the result. For extending God’s grace to others is part of the gift of grace we receive from Him. It’s something we get to do.
Of course! “I’d be happy to help.”
Father, “may [Your favor] rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands,”5 so that the world would know and receive Your love and grace. In Christ we pray. Amen.
1 Ephesians 2:8-9
2 Ephesians 2:10
3 2 Corinthians 9:8
4 1 Peter 4:10
5 Psalm 90:17
Categories
Paul Nordman—Author 