Faithfully Yours - It's all about grace

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Published on Saturday, March 28, 2015

By Neil Strohschein

It’s happened several times in the past 2-3 weeks; sometimes by phone, sometimes in person. Someone pulls me aside and says: “Neil, have you heard about…” What follows is some news about a tragic event that has happened in the life of someone I know.

Now don’t get the wrong impression here. Those who contact me aren’t gossips. They aren’t spreading rumors. They aren’t violating people’s confidences by sharing this news with me.

The news I get is usually about a member of a family in one of my churches, a member of my own family or a close friend. Some have suffered serious injury. Some have died suddenly. Some have been diagnosed with serious illness. All are facing the harshest challenges they and their families have ever faced. Some are older than me; some are my age; far too many are younger.

Some of the stories I hear are quite shocking. Some are causes for concern. All reveal needs that I address in my times of private prayer and reflection. Every story has had an impact on my life.

These days, I find myself counting my blessings far more than I count my bumps and bruises. I fully agree with the words St. Paul wrote to his friends in the Greek city of Corinth. “By the grace of God,” he wrote, “I am what I am.” (1 Corinthians 15:10) His story is also my story.

Paul’s suffered much for his faith—he was imprisoned, beaten, stoned and shipwrecked. He was always in danger from robbers, gangs and religious authorities who wanted him silenced. But none of their efforts succeeded. He enjoyed a long life and a fruitful ministry that took him from Jerusalem to Rome; where after a lengthy imprisonment, he was put to death.

If we could ask Paul to summarize his teachings, he night say something like this: “It’s all about grace—God’s grace—favor that we do not deserve—favor that is given to us thanks to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus the Christ.”

Paul experienced that “undeserved favor” in three ways.

First, his sins were forgiven. “By grace you have been saved…” (Ephesians 2:8) Every sin he had committed (and he was guilty of some big ones) was erased from God’s records in heaven. From the moment of his conversion onward, Paul was treated just as if he had never sinned. 

Second, the opportunity to start over. If he was alive today and wanted to attend Seminary with the goal of becoming a priest or minister, Paul would have a hard time finding a school that would accept him and an even harder time finding a church that would hire him. But less than three years from the date of his conversion, Paul was preaching the message he had tried so hard to suppress and destroy. God gave him a second chance; and he made the best of it.

Third, the strength to cope with hardships. In the midst of excruciating bouts of pain that got more intense as he got older, Paul was told: “My grace is sufficient for you…my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) From the moment he heard these words, Paul knew that he could survive and thrive in the face of life’s harshest trials because God would give him the physical, mental and emotional strength he needed to cope with them.

These gifts weren’t for Paul alone. They are yours and mine as well. They are ours thanks to God’s amazing grace. Let us receive them today with gratitude and joy.