City Life Starter

Written by Paul Lane

The Word

“…I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.  To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages had been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;”

Ephesians 3:7-9

“The stuff of Earth competes, For the allegiance, I owe only to the Giver, Of all good things.”

Rich Mullins – If I Stand

Reflections

Knowing how much Paul did for the early church, and for the church that followed, it’s hard to imagine him to be “less than the least of all the saints.”  But, I believe that he is being deeply honest here.  Not that he is actually comparing himself to each person in the church, but rather that he has had such a revelation of Christ and the holiness of God that he has become deeply away of his true state; separated from God except for God’s grace.  His intense focus on the gift that God gave him, and that that gift worked in him to do many things, dominated his thinking.

Paul says that it is “the effective working of His power” that makes the difference.  You see, it is so much less about comparing to others, and so much more about seeing what God is effectively doing in your life.  I think it would be good for us all to have a deeper insight into the effectiveness of the gifts that God has given us.  Instead of seeing these gifts as the typical Christmas present, that is unwrapped and then put on the shelf, we should see God’s gift as something that is involved with our lives every day, and that it is changing us and making us the thing that God intended us to be.

Applications

One of my favorite questions to ask people is, “what would you do if I gave you $10,000,000,000?”  That’s right, don’t shy away from the zeros here.  Usually people either shy away from that amount or think that they would then be free to do whatever they want.  For those who think that they would suddenly be free, I then explain that it is so much money that it would attract the attention of many people who would be happy to do you harm.  Then they often shift to the first group and start to run away from it.  It is such a large amount of money that it would change the nature of your life.  The gift of God is similar in this respect. It is so powerful that your life can no longer be as it was before.

So, as an application, I recommend that you each go out and inherent $10,000,000,000.  Well, do the best you can.  Likewise, go out and accept the great gift that God has given you, and let it change your life.

Prayer

Dear Lord, I acknowledge that I am much less than You intend me to be.  I also understand that Your gift of grace is intended to redeem me to Your purposes so that I might accomplish that which You have laid out for me, before the foundation of the world.  Lord, continue to guide me deeper into Your gift of grace, that I may live the life of a good and faithful servant.  To the praise of Your glory and grace. Amen.