Stewards of God’s Grace
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
(Ephesians 2:8-10)
My parents followed a certain way of life before they were Christians, a religious practice known as animism where “spirits” are believed to be the sole cause of good and evil, blessing and curse, life and death. When they became Christians they embraced grace and burned away their fetishes and shamanistic way of life. Grace was a gift, a blessing, and the power of God that delivered them not only from sin and death, but also from the bondage of evil spirits. Grace gives them a new way of life, a freedom from bondage and a hope for a better life and future.
Grace is a gift from God which encompasses all the attributes of God in our life. In the early days of the church those who came to believe in Jesus Christ were call “people of the way”, meaning they followed, lived and kept certain ways of life, which grace had a lot to do with. Grace freed them from the worries and uncertainty of life such as persecutions and equipped them to produce good works regardless of the challenge of the day. Grace assured them hope and future in the hand of God.
What is important about grace today is that it is intended to be shared with others. Christians are stewards of God’s grace. We can be good stewards by sharing it with others. And when we share God’s grace, God’s power and love, we can’t share it without sharing about Jesus Christ. How do we make disciples of Jesus Christ in times such as these (in the challenges of these days by the pandemic)? We can do it by simply sharing God’s grace through the work that we do and the way we live our life in Jesus Christ.
God of grace and God of power, you freed us from our bondages, our sins and struggles, our challenges and worries of life, that we may find peace and joy in these days. Help us to produce good works for your sake and free those who are still in bondage to a new life and hope in you. Amen.