Great Privilege Heavy Responsibility

I was reading two passages of scripture recently that stood out to me about the privilege and the responsibility of the act of preaching. On the one hand Isaiah 52:7 talks in a poetic kind of way about the beauty of the feet of one bringing good news. Of course it refers to the great privilege and the joy with which the herald is received when he brings good news from a distant land.  In many ways that is how the preaching of the Gospel is to us. The preacher is one who should be received with joy, gratitude and refreshing, because he brings the good news of salvation to sin weary souls. It is the great honor of the messenger to be called to bring such a message. Not everyone can do this eternally significant task. It is granted to one called by God, equipped and empowered to do so and one whose heart is made fit to discern and deliver the spiritual words of God to man via the Gospel of Christ. It is privilege, but also responsibility, for he must take care to be submitted to God and in a right frame of mind and soul as he serves God in this fashion.
But it is a privilege for the hearers also. Who are they that hear the word of God? There are millions of people around the world, who have not heard the Gospel. They don't even know that there is a Gospel to be heard, but we hear it.  Now that we have heard, we have a responsibility to act on it. This is a grave and huge decision for us. Will we take to heart what we have heard? Will we respond to Gods gracious act of reaching out to us by way of this message? God leaves that decision up to us. Oh, He grants grace, convicts our hearts, makes us aware of our needs, warns us of impending judgment for those who refuse Him, but in the last analysis, it is our decision. What a grave responsibility is hearing the Gospel! On the one hand the offer is made,"the Spirit and the bride say come, the one who thirsts, come!" But on the other hand, "Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong, the one who is filthy, still be filthy." God does all He does, but our responsibility remains. So, he who preaches and they who hear the message preached, have great privilege, yet a dreadful corresponding responsibility. I trust that the next time you hear the message of Christ you will be grateful that you do hear it. I also hope that you will realize the great consequence of your decision to believe or not to believe. Let God be your influence and trust Him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. The proclamation goes forth daily. Let your yes to God be renewed every day.

Grace That Hurts!

Do we ever think of adversities as a means of Gods grace? I usually don't but I was the other day as I stopped to consider the many ways God acts to bring us into the place of His will and subsequent blessings.  I guess what brought it on was thinking of Jonah, a prophet in the Old Testament who was called by God to preach a message of warning to a people he hated. They were the enemies of Israel, and Jonah did not want God to show any mercy to them, even by way of a warning. So, Jonah did what any disobedient child of God would do he ran away. He purposefully tried to avoid his mission by getting on a ship to Tarshish, paying the fare and settled in for the trip. But the fare was more than he was willing to pay. God had a plan for Jonah, and God, unlike Jonah, or you and me, is faithful to carry out His plan no matter what it might take. It was a manifestation of Gods grace. God pursued Jonah by a storm, the loss of cargo and money, Jonah felt the scorn of the men on the ship, he was cast overboard, swallowed by a huge fish, and finally spit up by the fish on shore. It's hard to think of these adverse circumstances as being part of God's grace for Jonah, but that's what it was.  God was pursuing him because He is merciful and God wanted Jonah to know that it is always better to do God's will, even reluctantly for a time as it was for this prodigal prophet. Although Jonah was upset because the people of Nineveh heeded the warning and God showed mercy to them, God's plan was accomplished. Jonah was still upset, a little like the older brother in Jesus' parable about the prodigal son, but God was glorified and His mercy triumphed, even if for a season.
Now the question for us is, are the difficult circumstances in your life the result of wrong choices or even sins on your part like Jonah? Are you trying to run away from what you know is true? Are you trying to avoid God's plan for yourself and your family? Maybe God is trying to get your attention and call you back to where you and He know you belong. These troubles just may be the activity of grace from God in His relentless pursuit of your soul and affections. That is mercy.  He could just let you go and today, even as you read,  you would be dead, in a free fall to eternal destruction. Instead, He is pursuing you, calling you, chastening you by these circumstances that are causing pain now, but will soon bear the fruit of salvation and righteousness. The key is how you respond! Unlike Jonah, let's heed the grace and call of God today. He promised He would return to us, if we only would return to Him. Let today be your day of renewal, and hope and the place to start over. His grace is here, and is more than sufficient.