April 11, 2016

“This is how I want you to conduct yourself in these matters. If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God.” Matt. 5:23-24 MSG

Jesus turns life upside down. He does it through His resurrection life. It is a life you could never live on your own. You could never find it on your own. You can’t form it out of your accomplishments.  You can’t forge it from your past. But then this Jesus steps into your life and He makes life about Him being in the center. Relationships become part of His glue to what holds you together. Instead of waiting on someone else, the Lord moves you to take the first step toward healing a broken friendship. He places you in the very position that He became for you: approachable and rejectable. Why does He work this way? Because He is serious about you living a better life than you would ever live on your own. It might not happen today .. this week .. or the next .. but .. Jesus will lead you to live differently toward someone or someones where it would be easier to just avoid or remove from your thoughts. And what He says is that God thinks it that important for you to be an ambassador of grace. He opens your eyes to see who is in the “same boat” as you are .. and He gives you the grace to cross over. It only takes a moment …

“Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own.” 2 Cor. 5:14-15 MSG

Ken Chester: Grace-Gripped is sent to those walking in fellowship with Jesus(kchesterp1@gmail.com)