Skip to main content

Faith at the End - Resting in the Grace of God



A person will have many choices along the way and seeing the end will give almost anything to finish. This is called a choice to stay the course. The course is staying engaged in other peoples lives till the end, believing and giving all to them in moments where we would rather rest on our own laurels. This is calling us to trust that we need not our own love as much as we need to rest in God’s grace.


The people who push in a rugby scrum, push and push till it has succeeded or collapsed. This analogy helps us understand the grace of God. The team of players are in unison working together. They are guided and directed by the halfback who gives encouragement also. The players dig in the feet and use sprigs to gain traction. There are moments when the pressure become intense as the opposition presses against them. 


Faith can be the same. Where our love for each other can be tested to the point of exhaustion. Where our hopes of getting through the day are great. When we look to Christ for our guidance there is a unity that he brings. This unity is his body working together for the glory of God. 


The glory of God is for everyone to see and believe in Him who gives us grace to stand at the end. This battle we engage in, “the good fight” as Paul said he completed, is a pressure to succeed. Paul ran the race, he fought the goof fight, kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:7) 


Without the voice of the encourager we would all need counselling and our hope would be without help. Where as in Him, we are more than conquerers (Romans 8:37). We have a high priest who knows what we go through (Hebrews 4:17). We are also in the heavenly realms seated with Christ (Ephesians 2:6). This is our position of faith. 


Now what can come against those who remain in Him? Can pestilence or famine, drought or storm, winter or summer will not stop those who are in Him. We are brought to Him through the faith of Christ. “He is the finisher and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, sitting down at the right hand of our Father in Heaven.” (Hebrews 12:2) What a triumph, what an end. 


What is the cost of being in Him? Our resting place, our place where people come to lay their head. This rock, the solid unmoving, shame removing, grace filled and anointed place of rest. What joy there is for those who find Christ. He opens the shutters and allows the love of God to shine through. 


He is the good Shepherd. He makes me rest in green pastures. (Psalm 23:2) I find the older I get the easier it is to rest. This place of unknown and finding need to get advice is always there. I am learning humility is grace and this place is my dependance on his help. What I don’t know is where my help will come from. I only trust that when God says there is hope, I believe there is. 


Well, I hope you will see our part in the body is being an encourager, supporting each other in our goal to be faithful till the end. As Paul said, “there is faith, hope and love, the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13) What a hope, He who stands in our place, our sin forgotten and laid waste, will show us God’s love in Him. 


I love you, praying for you to accept in Him, a joy more than words, a peace deeper than the seas and a love as wide as the world. 


Aroha,

James

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Found in the Arms of Grace

I was use to walking along the road with no one to guide me in which way I was to go. Now I see the way is a narrow road, not broad, that leads to life (John 7:13-14). I am able to see a piece of grace as a gift from God’s hand, not a limitation that restricts me from seeing his love. So I press forward toward the goal of receiving Christ as my inheritance. This I do, forget what is behind and press forward toward the heavenly calling we have in God’s son Jesus (Philippians 3:14).  For I was once lost in sin, unable to see, deaf from all the drowning noise of chaos and lost in my own pride of life. I thought I was alone because there was no one who could save me. Yet I was only dead due to a decision to forget who I as made to be. I am now in the light, not of life alone, but also of God’s grace. I leave my baggage of tormented soul to enter a new age of transformation. Like a butterfly I used to crawl, now I saw above the wind and lift up above the waves.  In the start o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Favoured

Now the favour in your life will carry you so far. Where will it carry you? To love. Now love looks like something. Often love takes the form of submission to another and their will. Yet coming to know the one who made you is the first step in coming to favour that flows.  Rivers start with a trickle and end in a stream. The collective of so many droplets of water can cause the stream to bulge, bursting its banks. This bulging can be related to the formation of character in our soul. This soul flooded with love is favour again and again pouring through.  The first part of love is to see we are made in the image of God and then made for His glory. These two cement the first of which is grace upon grace then acting upon this revelation, we all seek the glory of God. So what is the power we seek? Is it just that we are to be known by Him and make Him known by love? Let’s look at this.  It’s profound that love can take us deeper into the foundation of the gospel. Love can fin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Way Maker - Art of Letting Go and Allowing God to Secure your Life in Him

  Photo by  Osman Rana  on  Unsplash Words and fear have links that lead to going down the wrong path too easily. Where as we know that God can lead us into circumstances that prosper us and not harm our soul if we trust Him. This article is focusing on Him and our response to His way to gain fruitful interactions with others. Let’s explore this topic. First, I want to explore the topic of grace. Grace can take many forms. It has my hand, it takes my hand, I hold on to the grace of Him who makes a way. See I look for God’s grace and yet he extends it to me. I search for grace and yet it looks for my love. I open up myself to it yet I search only in Him I seek. Yet grace doesn’t over extend itself to me. I need to accept it and I have trouble if I don’t. So I conclude this paragraph saying I am not alone in this struggle to serve others. I seek Him to unveil my grace to others. Second, the topic of grace enables us to serve others in a way that give people a choic...
Post a Comment
Read more