Pastor’s Podium

As you read this article many will be celebrating Independence Day. Growing up in Southwest Missouri the 4th of July was one of my favorite holidays. It meant spending time with family and shooting off fireworks. Because we were always with my grandparents for the 4th of July my grandfather would always remind me of the freedom we had in the United States. He would explain the 4th of July celebrated freedom and independence from Great Britain’s rule of the colonies.

Independence is a wonderful privilege that we have in the United States. We have freedom that most people in the world will never experience. Yet, I didn’t understand until my early adult years that God made us to be interdependent not independent of Him.

The world view is independence based on accomplishing in your own strength and will power. The Bible view is based on interdependence on God’s work and direction for our life, as we are obedient to the Lord. That we would love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength and love our neighbor as our self.

I’m reminded how the Ephesians forgot what God did to save them and to make them a part of the body. God’s mercy plucks us from the destruction of our countless sins and places us in Jesus Christ’s righteousness. This is revealed in Ephesians 2:4-10,“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

When I read a verse like Ephesians 2:4, I feel I have discovered God’s roadblock on one’s way to hell, but God’s mercy is great, He is so rich in mercy that none need perish, but individuals must come to God in his appointed way. I adore the mercy that had lovingkindness, pity and compassion on me.

Let me give you a modern illustration of mercy in action. One day, a Christian named Paul went into a coffee shop, sat on a stool, and ordered his lunch. When he began speaking to the man next to him, he realized that Fred was in deep spiritual need. After sharing the gospel with him, Paul arranged to meet him again. It was at the second meeting that Fred was converted.

Then Paul begins to disciple him on a one-on-one basis, and Fred grew in grace and in knowledge of the Lord Jesus. But it wasn’t long before Fred learned that he had a life-threatening disease. He had to go to a convalescent hospital that was sadly substandard.

Paul visited him regularly, bathed him, changed the sheets, and did other chores that the staff should have been doing. The night Fred died, Paul was holding him in his arms, whispering verses of Scripture in his ear. That’s mercy. It’s a wonderful thing to see that Godlike quality in a human life.

Are there some people around you who slip through the cracks unnoticed? Is God placing them on your heart to reach out? Is there a lonely widow? Has God placed an insecure junior-high student in your path? Have you noticed a struggling single mother in your neighborhood? Pay these people a visit — invest some time in their lives. Allow God to work in you to make a difference. Show the same mercy and grace to others as God has shown you.