Grace to Change the World

“But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and His grace towards me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”

-1 Cor. 15:10 (ESV)

Somebody asked me once, why I continue to write. Underlain in the tone of their inquiring voice was an assumption that my writing was in vain. Why? Because in their mind, no one read it. I didn’t respond to the question.

But here is my response now: I continue to write for the same reason I work with churches. It’s the same reason why have a daily devotion time. It’s the same reason I poured myself out to put on a campus ministry event to give glory to God. It’s the same reason I want to see lives changed! Because I understand what was needed to overcome my corrupted soul. It took GOD dying on the cross in order for me to be here. Can you believe that? I, in myself, had no power to arrive at the place where I’m at now, so a GOD had to die for my sake, so I can desire to change lives. I write because His death and resurrection were not in vain.

Yet, I see so many people treat it as if it was. As if the grace given to us because of His death and resurrection was something we deserved. They take it and then try to change the world in their own power. But we cannot change the world in our own power. I’m here to say that it takes the power of God to change the world. It ultimately takes the power of grace.

To change the world, you must accept grace, and you must steward grace.

You see, it’s a formula. You can’t steward grace without accepting it. And you can’t accept grace without stewarding it. If you steward grace without accepting it, the grace you’ve accepted becomes a lie. If you accept grace without stewarding it, you didn’t really accept it. The first step is to accept the fullness of grace in the form of Jesus Christ (John 1:16). Once you understand this amount of grace that you are accepting, then you work harder to steward the grace.

In accepting the grace, you must humble yourself (1 Peter 5:5). More of Him, less of you. Why? Because it is depending on His power rather than your own. I see this played out in my life all the time as I reflect back on times where I was too proud for grace. By my power I was being led to destruction. By His power, I was led to salvation. Humble yourself to receive the grace needed to change your life.

And then, having grace requires that you steward it (1 Peter 4:10). The definition of steward (as a noun) in the dictionary states: one who administers anything as the agent of another. I love this definition because right away it points out that it is not our grace. It is not my power, but His! If you accept grace without stewarding it, you are saying that the grace is yours to take ownership of and to decide what to do with, which (as I’ve said before) is a lie. We accept the fullness of grace with the expectation that we act as an agent of it. Stewarding the grace is a requirement.

What is the right manner you steward the grace? You don’t preach it as your own, you live according to it, and you use your life to point people to the One who gave you the grace in order that they might receive it as well.

There is an amazing parable in the Bible that Jesus tells in Matthew 18:21-35 that perfectly illustrates this concept. In the parable, a master forgives his servant of a large debt that he owes. In return, the servant walks away and punishes another of a small debt that that person owed the servant. As a result, the master punishes the servant for not stewarding the grace himself.

You see, the master expected the servant to live according to the grace given to him. Yet he didn’t, which meant that he really didn’t understand the gravity of what was given to him. That is a ridicule to the master because the master poured himself out in order to forgive the servant. If you accept the fullness of grace, you must steward it.

Paul understood this. As displayed in the verse above, he worked hard to steward the grace given to him because he understood the power needed to redeem him.

So I leave you with this: the reason I did all that stuff I said at the beginning of the post (and still continue to do) is not because I am perfect. It is because I am imperfect. Perfection by human ability is not possible. But through humbling yourself to receive His power, you can do anything. Humble yourself to the point where His power may be exalted through your imperfection. Remember that you are more effective not as a perfect being, but an imperfect being who understands the gift of God’s grace. For it is through accepting His grace (through humility) and stewarding it that we have the ability to change the world. Not of our own power, but of His.