[Jesus said to the disciples,] "You are the light of the world." - Matthew 5:14
Three year old Grace Hawkins is a bundle of beauty and joy. She is also the daughter of Pastor Scott and Emily, so she gets to attend a lot of church gatherings.
Yesterday, Grace was at our Journey luncheon which is our church's orientation to our beliefs, values, gifts, and ministries. Grace was enjoying her lunch with all the other attendees, of which Grace was by far the youngest, as I think you would've guessed. So she's listening, or maybe we should say she wasn't talking. I mean how much can a three year old actually listen to teachings, even brIef teachings, on the Trinity, sin, the Word of God, believing, and faith as a gift?
So, the Journey is a fill in the blank booklet, and coming to the next blank I say, "In his GRACE, God sent his Son Jesus to die in our place on the cross." Well no sooner, had I said "grace" emphatically for everyone to fill in the blank, when the three year old, beautiful, joyful, lunch-eating, not interrupting, little girl said, "That's Me!"
Of course, we all just smiled, laughed, and affirmed Grace's obvious listening to everything that was being said.
I also realized that Grace was reminding me of Jesus's words, as in today's Bible verse, "you are the light of the world" (Matthew 5:14), along with other challenges, like "you are the salt of the earth" (Matthew 5:13).
Jesus is saying that he wants to live in us so we can be grace, yes joyful, chiming in grace for those around us because that's what salt and light are to people who need it. They are gifts of grace.
So as you go about your day today, listen. Watch attentively. And when one of the many opportunities to be a blessing presents itself, remember Jesus' words and his indwelling your heart and a sweet little attentive three year old, named Grace, so that we, with her, can say, "That's me!"
Dear God, help us to trust your grace, so we can fill our day and bless others with the same. May grace abound. Amen.
Praise God!
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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