It's The Small Things

Our study into the Kingdom of God has taken a wonderful detour into grace.  I asked the men to come together and make a list of sins, and their diametrically opposed graces.  I know it would be easy to call them acts of love, but no one bothers to call sins acts of hate.  You might be wondering why this distinction is important.  If we don’t understand Grace, we can’t understand God.  To quote our savior, knowing God, is eternal life.  What has come out of those meetings is beyond my wildest hopes.  

As we move through some of the things we share, I can’t share them all, because they will be repetitive. However, I do know one thing, we’ve been fooled into believing that it is in the hands of the great, that great things are done.  We’ve devolved into hero worship, and spectators of the stupendous.  We believe that the Kingdom of God will be advanced by the great evangelists, teachers, and leaders of the day.  I’ve lived long enough to know better.  The battle between darkness, and light, good and evil, love and hate, is won by the smallest, youngest, and weakest among us.  I believe we will be shocked at who God honors in the Kingdom of Heaven.  The great orators, healers, and prophets among us will bow before the awesome wisdom of God in honoring the least of us.   Wars aren’t won or lost by the great generals, but by the sheer will, and heroism of one soldier who changes the tide of events.  As Christians, it is the small acts, the gentle words, the tender touch, soft embrace, and the pure act of love that becomes God’s grace.  Just as small sins trip up good men, small graces lift up a world.  It only takes one man or woman to change the face of fear, or destroy despair.  It is my dream, my desire to walk among men with such a presence of God upon me, that men’s lives are changed forever.  Yet, that dream, as noble as it may seem on the surface, is not what will be rewarded in heaven.  My life will be empty if I fail to live out God’s grace.  If I fail to be kind, tender, merciful, loving, and compassionate, my days will be wasted on this earth. 

The carnal man loves to worship the great, mighty, and powerful things of this life, cowering in fear before the merciless power of hate.  The Christ/Man walks through this life committing graces, forgiving sins, and lifting up the weak.  I guarantee you, the great, and seemingly powerful people in this life, live in fear of their power being taken away.  They must all face the specter of death.  Their wealth, and power can’t stop the inevitable.  We’ve created, and empowered these people.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy movies about superheroes, valiant warriors, and epic battles just as much as the next guy, but I also know that those heroes were once just noble ideas in the minds of their creators.  Such is the case with God, you are his idea of what can be done when you seek to be like him.  Grace is the power to do God’s stuff.   Most of that ‘stuff’ will appear small and insignificant, until that day we are given the entire picture.  So, find a reason to smile at someone, to laugh with someone, to give, reach, and lift up someone.  Make it your purpose to commit a grace tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that, for as many days as the Lord sees fit to give you.