By God's Grace!

In the 13th chapter of the book of Acts after an encounter with believers in Antioch, where Paul and Barnabas preached the Good News to the Jews and Gentiles (the religious and not so religious) they end their time with them with some words of encouragement. Here is what they urged them to focus on…

“By God’s grace remain faithful!” (Acts 13:43b NLT)

Now… this is a really interesting verse from the recollection of Paul’s first missionary travels. In this verse, Paul and Barnabas with their parting words to the believers in this city chose to remind them to be faithful to what they had shared with them concerning the Good News of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the Cross. These are good words for every one of us who have turned our lives over to God in this journey of life and faith. But what makes this so incredible for me as I read it today, are the three words they chose in front of their call to faithfulness.

The three words… “By God’s grace!”

You see… with these words of encouragement, these men of faith remind them of something we are often prone to forget along the way. That it is by God’s grace that we are able to remain faithful to God’s call on our lives individually and corporately! Far too often when it comes to our faithfulness we can often get off track by falsely believing that we are responsible for our ability to be faithful along the way. We often can be subtly led to believe that if we are to be faithful people then we are the ones who make it happen by our actions, attitudes, and abilities! I see this in my own life and in the lives of those that God has allowed me to walk beside in the journey of pastoral ministry. Sometimes we think that if we just persevere under the challenges, or if we just pray enough, or if we just read enough, that we will be seen as faithful to our LORD and Saviour! However, with these final words of encouragement to the early believers in Antioch, Paul and Barnabas remind them and us that it is ONLY by God’s grace that we are made faithful before our Holy God! God’s incredible grace covers us as we attempt to live and serve God as His people on this planet. God’s grace gives us the strength we need to persevere… it protects us when we are tempted to stray… and it provides the covering we need when we have walked in ways that are unpleasing to God! The truth is, without God’s grace it is difficult, if not impossible, for us to remain faithful to God’s calling on our lives individually and corporately. But by His grace we are able to live faithfully according to His Will and His plans and purposes for our lives!

With encouragement along the journey,

Rev Trev