On Being an Agent of Grace | Matthew Podjan

Hello brothers and sisters.  I want to share something with you something today that is changing my life, in a very good way.  It is changing my thoughts, the way I look at people, the way I treat myself and others and the way I see God and how I view His perception of me. This blissful something is the juicy, life-filled grace of God.  

Yes, grace.  

Before I even took a breath in this life, Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave, defeating death once and for all, becoming the sin of the world so I would know no sin.  Being born under the curse of the old Adam, I deserved death.  I deserved hell.  For the first 22 years of my life I defied God, made fun of Him and outright blasphemed Him.  I worshipped satan, was wicked and cruel to people and defied every form of authority possible.  I even branded myself an anarchist.  Just take a look at my left shoulder! (For those of you who don't know, there is an anarchy tattoo there.)

But even though I deserved hell, 10 years ago Christ lavished His extravagant love upon me in the form of a vision and gave me a taste of His divine goodness.  I did not deserve this.  But He let me in anyway.  Forever changed by His grace.

Mercy is not getting what we do deserve and grace is getting what we don't deserve.  Read Ephesians 2:1-10.  Quite possibly one of the greatest, most explosively gorgeous chunks of Scripture ever recorded.  It says we never deserved salvation, but He saved us anyway.  Here is where it gets really good...that salvation from God is not from anything we did or could ever do.  He did it all for us.   A free gift.  No strings attached. He died for the whole world.  You, me, Hitler, Bin-Laden, Marilyn Manson, Stalin, Chuck Norris, Bill Johnson, Obama; He died for us all.  All we have to do to receive this glorious graceful salvation is to believe and accept.  How awesome!  How liberating!  It's like running naked down the shore of a beach.  Freedom!!!

He loves us so much that he allowed us to be unified with Him.  Co-crucified, co-resurrected with Him.  New creations! See Romans 6 and 2 Corinthians 5:17.  

I could go on and on about this grace from a theological standpoint, but now I'll share how I've been applying to my life.  It's funny how easily grace will flow out of you if you just let it.  A lot of it has to do with your mindset.  Scripture says freely you have received, freely give.  We must treat people with the loving grace Jesus lavished on us.  It's no secret that the people in our lives, even the ones we live with and love the most, can be difficult, stubborn, mean and rude. But even as Jesus loves us even when we don't deserve it, we must love that same way toward others.  

Myself, I have to really focus on this.  One way to stay in the sauce on this is to know that through Jesus we have grace for grace.  We have our moments.  We can be difficult too.  But we must remember Jesus has taken over our bodies and He lives through us if we let Him.  See Galatians 2:20. It helps if we are always suckling on this message by reading your Bible.  Yes people, reading your Bible!  Drinking up this life message will no doubt leave you oozing it out in everything you do.  Especially read the letters by Paul.  Filled with messages of grace.

So when I am changing smelly diapers, I have grace for my 2 year old son.  He knows not of his stinky poo.  When my 4 year old son draws a mural on his bedroom wall with crayon, I don't beat him or yell.  Of course there are consequences, but no need to bring the wrath.  God's wrath was satisfied on the cross one and for all.  Our lives should reflect that grace. 

When my boss at work is throwing a tantrum, cussing and swearing and throwing things, I pray for him.  Only God knows what is going on underneath the surface.  Often people's life-changing encounter with Jesus will come from an interaction with a loving, joyful, forgiving agent of grace...us!

Living a life of grace eases the tension.  It easier on the body.  When I am focused on Christ and his grace, I am easier to be around.  Jesus is more clearly seen in me.

I will leave you with a quote from Bill Johnson.  He said, "Jesus didn't accomplish everything so we could accomplish nothing."  It would be very easy to kick back, relax and keep His grace all to yourself.  Don't get me wrong, we need to sit back and soak in His goodness often, but we need to get out there in the world and be the agents of grace He has called us to be.  As long as we keep our affections on Jesus, grace is effortless.  

Because Jesus is in us and we are in him, His DNA becomes ours...and there is lots grace in that blood!  It is just who we are.

Love you!