Grace Giver - Martin Wiles

Elisha replied. “Do we kill prisoners of war? Give them food and drink and send them home again to their master.” 2 Kings 6:22 NLT

Elizabeth Keckley was a slave in Missouri before the Civil War.

Keckley’s greatest desire was purchasing freedom for herself and her son. Her owner told her that if she could raise $1,200, she could have her freedom. Keckley worked as a seamstress. She engineered a plan to go to New York City and work to raise the money, but her owner feared she would not return.

Instead, some of Keckley’s wealthy clients in St. Louis showed grace by contributing the money she needed. Keckley paid the price for her freedom as well as her son’s. She moved to Washington, D.C., where she counted Mary Lincoln among her dressmaking clients. Without the help of others—grace—Keckley never would have been able to purchase her freedom.

The king of Aram fought the king of Israel, but God had a habit of telling the prophet Elisha all about the enemy king’s plans. So often, in fact, that the king of Aram thought a spy had infiltrated his ranks.

Once, when the enemy army had finally found Elisha, Elisha prayed that God would blind the enemy army. Elisha, in turn, led them to Samaria—the middle of their enemy’s camp. When the king of Israel witnessed this turn of events, he asked Elisha if he should kill them. Although the Arameans wanted to kill the Israelites, Elisha told the Israelites to show them mercy. “Feed them and let them go,” Elisha told the king of Israel. Show them grace, even though they came here looking to destroy you.

Grace adorns God. From the beginning when Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying Him, God has demonstrated grace. Instead of destroying them, God killed animals and clothed them with hides—an early symbol of His grace. The entire Bible and history are filled with acts of God’s grace.

Grace is God’s undeserved favor—shown primarily through salvation, but in many other ways too. We can’t earn the forgiveness for our sins that ushers in salvation. Nor can anyone else give it to us. Neither can we get it because our friends or relatives have it. It is a personal thing only God can grant.

God gives grace in large doses to those who trust Him and in smaller doses to those who don’t through His common grace. He makes His sun to shine on the evil and the good. All experience the rain and the goodness the earth produces.

But only by God’s grace—and our asking for it—can we experience the forgiveness we need, the abundant life God offers, the daily peace God can grant, and the eternal life He promises. And when we’ve experienced it, we’ll want to sprinkle a little of it around for others.

God is the ultimate grace giver. Have you asked for His grace?

Prayer: Father, may we give grace in small doses so that others will be pointed the greater grace that only You can give.

Tweetable: Are you giving grace to others? 

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God Don’t Like Ugly - Martin Wiles

Series: The Things We Say

Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself. 1 Corinthians 6:19 NLT

Hearing about ugly episodes is a normal part of any day.

The early settlers along the James River—in what would become the United States of America, had some ugly in them even though they were responsible for the founding of one of the greatest nations in the world. 

Although the Native Americans helped them survive, the settlers fought with them and eventually pushed them from their land. Soon slavery made its ugly entrance into the young colonies. Africans were imported by the millions and crowded in squalid conditions on ships where many died before they ever reached the colonies. 

As the colonies grew into a country and westward expansion occurred, slavery increased and so did the mistreatment of other Native Americans. 

Ugly didn’t cease once America was finalized with 50 states. Nor is it confined to America. I listen to ugly every day when I hear about murders, rapes, terrorist acts, natural disasters, and other acts of unkindness. I sometimes wonder where the pretty is. 

Since my body is a temple of God’s Spirit, it should be a pretty place.

I’ve never considered myself handsome. I can’t remember girls pining to date me when I was in high school. I had somewhat of an ugly complex. But regardless of how I appear on the outside, my inside can be handsome. 

Sin makes me ugly. 

It’s easy to make light of sin by redefining it, calling it something else, or making it appear less tragic than it is. No matter what I do with it, God still sees it as ugly. Sin is behind the ugly I hear about and see each day. The absence of sin would result in the annihilation of all that’s bad in our world. 

The only way I can keep my temple clean is to accept God’s solution for ugly: forgiveness. 

If ugly will separate me eternally from God, then I better fix it. Accepting what Christ has done on Calvary’s cross allows His righteousness to be credited to my account. Then I’m not ugly in God’s sight anymore. With the help of God’s Spirit indwelling me, my pretty inside will manifest itself outwardly in kind words and admirable actions, making the world a better place. 

Let God transform your ugly to beauty.

Prayer: Father, thank You for the beautiful new nature You offer us through Jesus Christ. 

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