Grace Happens When We See Him!

Greetings,

Well the snow is past and the sun is now shining in my part of the world. I had a great week last week with lots of snow encounters, grandpa and grandchildren experiences, ambushes by God in our Christ Life Training sessions, and a good weekend in my home church. God is good.

I have been addressing the subject of a culture of grace and what a community of people empowered by God’s grace look like. The foundation of the community of God, is God! He is who He is and He is secure in who He is. It is His security and His identity that sets the foundation for the community of God in heaven and upon the earth.

When asked by Moses as to who He was, God’s simple answer was one of security – “I Am”. He didn’t explain who He was. He didn’t explain what He does. He didn’t explain how He created the universe and how He redeems things and restores things. He didn’t explain how quickly He can do miracles. He simply said, “I Am”. I think the big I Am wanted all the little ‘i am’s’ to know who they are. The community of God is filled with loved people. It is God’s love that reveals to each on who they are. “I am a child of God. I am a son of God. I am a daughter of God. I am the bride of Christ.” The Dad wants the children to know that they are like Him. We are little ‘I am’ s’  in the testimony of the big I Am! Grace empowers me to be who I am where law only required me to be an I do, but even a parrot can be taught to say, praise the lord. But only a son or a daughter can say to their heavenly Father, “You are the excellence of my life!” The future is in our thinking. Who are we?

1 Peter 1:13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ…

Gird up the loins of your mind and be sober. To be sober doesn’t mean to be sad. It means to be purposed. Gird up the loins of your mind and be purposed. Rest your hope fully upon the grace that is brought to you at a revelation of Jesus Christ, not a revelation about Jesus Christ. A revelation of Him. When you see Him, your world changes. When you see Him in your heart, your heart changes. When you see Him in your circumstance, your circumstance changes.

I have a wonderful everyday experience that allows me to understand this verse better. When I come home from a trip my grandson loves to come and see me at my house. He will come to my house and ring my front door bell. He is looking forward to seeing me. He knows that anything that he may have done that was bad while I was gone doesn’t matter to me. He knows that I love him and he can’t wait to be with me. When he rings the bell at my door he has an expectation of me coming to see who it is. He will hide under the front bench on my porch. When I am away on a trip he loves seeing me on the computer through face time, but if he can get in the same room with me the atmosphere and the reality of his life changes. When he knows that I am home, he has an expectation of only good things. He comes to my house and he will ring my door bell several times. I will get up from my chair and he knows that I am going to get out of my chair. I am going to make some noise, I will say, “who’s ringing my door bell?” Who’s ringing my door bell? Is there someone at my door?” Now, he will be excited at this point! He will hide under the bench I have on the front porch. He is not hiding because He doesn’t want me to find him. He knows I will find him. He has a need. His world has been missing grandpa, but now grandpa is home. He has an expectation. He wants to experience a world with grandpa in it. The word revelation in 1 Peter 1:13 (grace comes at a revelation of Jesus Christ), is a great word. It is the word apocalypse. It doesn’t mean doom and gloom. It is an unveiling or revealing of what could not be seen before. An apocalypse of grandpa would be a revelation that, here he is! When my grandson sees me as I find him beneath the bench, his whole world changes! He experiences a change in his heart and a change in his mind. My grandson wants an experience with who I am, because he knows that who I am will cause wonderful things to happen in his heart, his mind, and in his everyday world. This is the way it is with grace and a revelation of Jesus Christ. When we see Him in our room, everything changes! Expect to see Jesus in your life today! Grace comes at a revelation of Him in your room!

I will bend down and my grandson will see me. He will leap into my arms! He will smell me and feel me! He will experience me. I am no longer a picture on a computer screen. I am no longer a promise. I am grandpa and here I am! Grace comes at a revelation of Jesus Christ. When you smell Him and experience Him and He is no longer a page in a book. When He is no longer a promise, but He is in your world and now your world changes! The whole environment changes because grace comes at a revelation of Jesus Christ.

Blessings,

Ted J. Hanson