The River has been “out on the street” so to speak, for a few weeks now. Many of you had the opportunity to have the finished copy in your hands before I did. I didn’t fully understand at the time, but I now know that the complimentary copies I received came from a different printing house than what those came from if ordered through Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
You may have noticed that the subtitle to the River is: Revealing the Heart of God and His Desire to Bless You. Also, in chapter one of the book I talk about having a proper understanding of God’s grace. Grace is the key that unlocks our understanding of God’s amazing love. We simply cannot understand true love or grace apart from God. God “is” love, and grace is an amazing gift given out of that love. Growing in our understanding of God’s grace should be our lifelong passion. Grace is truly a marvelous gift!
Grace is also something which we need to give. In the Book of Galatians, we are told to bear one another’s burdens, and in doing so we actually fulfill the law of Christ. This is a powerful statement and once again, it points us to the heart of God. There are obvious times—especially during the Holiday Season—when perhaps we are made aware of those who may be less fortunate. We reach out to them and this is truly an important element of being the hands and feet of Christ.
But today I would like to touch on another important element of being an extension of God’s love. It is by showing grace to those who don’t appear to be needy of humanitarian aid. These people do not necessarily seem less fortunate. Or at least maybe it is not demonstrated as such on the outside. I’m talking about those people that we deal with every single day. These are the relationships we have with our families, our spouses, co-workers, and communities. How do we respond to them when they don’t agree with us? How do we react when they are rude, selfish, or inconsiderate of our feelings? Often it is much easier for us to respond with judgement rather than with grace. In fact, we often justify our reactive judgments with examples of others who have done the same—which never makes it right. And it’s even harder when that someone who doesn’t treat us right is a fellow brother or sister in Christ. Here again, we need to remind ourselves that grace is the only way that we can properly understand the love of God? I’d also like to remind you (myself included) that grace is something we mature in—it is a process—and we need to choose to apply it.
Recently Tracy and I made plans for a special date. I got off work early, we planned out our day, and had just sat down have a meal together in a special uptown Minneapolis restaurant (organic of course, lol). Everything was going great until Tracy made a comment about some statistic she had just read pertaining to the importance of making eye contact with those you are talking to. Do you know that I immediately got defensive? I took it as though she was suggesting that I was not making eye contact with her and therefore treating her as not important. Which I eventually found out was not at all what she was saying. No, she had been observing others in the restaurant and was merely stating a fact about relationships as a lead-in to a conversation that we often have about marriages and relationships. Marriage and family relationships are a mutually big deal to us and is something that we regularly gravitate to in our conversations. It as well has been a huge part of ministry in our lives.
So why did I get so defensive right away? One reason—I was thinking only of me. Not only did I not see that Tracy’s comment was innocent (in fact, I later realized she had planned to segway into a comment about being thankful for the special moment we were having), but I made the choice to react in a way that did not show grace. Keep in mind, in this situation I was not treated rudely, or inconsiderately at all. I just took something wrong, I misread the situation and comment, and look at how easily I slipped into defending myself.
Why am I sharing this? Only to show how easily it is to slip into our selfish nature and to not show grace. Grace is meant to be a lifestyle. As followers of Christ, our lives should be marked by grace. Our culture teaches us that we need to take whatever we can in life, or others will take it from you. I for one do not want culture to determine who I am. My desire is to know and understand Jesus Christ. He is who I esteem in life. God has called us all to represent (RE-PRESENT) Him in ALL of our relationships. Incidentally, I did apologize to Tracy. It was totally stupid of me to think she would be pointing out my faults—she is truly just the opposite. I am so blessed with an amazing wife and I absolutely love us.
The Holiday Season is upon us and many of us will be gathering together with family, friends, and coworkers. Perhaps it is one of the few times out of the year that we have the opportunity to connect with one another. Maybe your family has that one individual who is always a challenge to be around. Perhaps there are hot buttons that people like to press, conversations that always seems to go sour, feelings hurt, and burdens of the past brought-up. Can I suggest that this year we all go into these special times prayed-up and prepared—knowing that special grace may be required? Romans 13:14 says to “clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ” (NLT), or “to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh.” (ESV). This does not mean that we act more spiritual etc., it means that we genuinely get involved in these peoples lives and show them the love of Christ as it flows through us. Let’s be givers of grace. And for some…extra grace may be required 😊
BTW. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers that The River will fulfill it’s intended purpose: To reveal the heart of God and His desire to bless you. As I have been reading over the printed product, I have actually needed to apply extra grace upon myself. Ha! I had even prepared myself as I read an article for authors that had warned that I would find textual issues after the book had gone to print. Some of the errors that I have since found were even highlighted, but somehow still made it through. And yes, for some of you Bible scholars, I know that Paul did not write the book of Revelation. As with my recent mess-up with Tracy on our date…I honestly don’t know how I let that happen 😊
I welcome your comments and Tracy & I are always ready to pray for you.
Blessed by The Best,
Mark
See You in the River 