Measure of Faith

-
“For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgement, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith,” (Romans 12:3 NASB, emphasis added).

     Recently, I’ve had the privilege to start doing research on Billy Graham. It’s for a project that I am doing on historical leaders and what they have contributed to the Christian faith. Amid that research, Billy Graham has quickly become a major inspiration to me. In fact, I was not sure where I was going next with this blog until I was blessed to hear a High School and a Middle School Youth Pastor discussing Romans 12:3-4 night before last. It was then that it occurred to me, why not keep on with Romans 12?

     What does that have to do with Billy Graham, you ask? Well, everything. To be 100%, it hit me two nights ago after sharing what I’d learned about Billy Graham backstage and then hearing the two Youth Pastor’s respective messages—Billy Graham is the epitome of Romans 12:3!

     In 1950, Graham began the Billy Graham Evangelical Association. By 2014, he had preached in front of 82,774,083 people! That is more than eight times the number of people in my state of Georgia! Over the course of his ministry, God led 4,563,436 people to Christ through Graham’s crusades! Essentially, all of Los Angeles!  Think about that. Four million+ to Christ! In Graham’s lifetime! Yet, by all accounts, Graham was a very humble and unassuming man, a dairy farm-boy from way back. How crazy is that? Of all the people in the world to be given over to arrogance, pride or vanity, the guy that God used to save four million + people could have been that guy! But, he wasn’t!

     As believer’s, we understand that the gift of grace that was given to us is the loving-kindness of coming to know and being able to have a relationship with Christ. Being able to accept salvation and have a connection to God is the greatest gift we could ever hope to have. He gave that to us out of His mercy. He did not have to. He chose to. Just as Christ chose to go to Calvary so that we could be welcomed into the Family. Ridiculous Grace!

     Think about this, too, how much grace did Paul feel God had shown him? I mean, he went from being a Pharisee, was probably at the gate when they stoned Stephen, and was killing Christians in God’s name; and then after Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus, he was willing to do whatever he had to do, tell anyone that would listen, face imprisonment and he even died for the grace he received through Christ. So, when Paul says, “For through the grace given to me…” I’d say he felt God had been incredibly graceful!

     In my opinion, it’s part of our spiritual service of worship to use our measure of faith to glorify God, as well as be humble in knowing that it’s by God and through God all of it is possible! Who comes to mind for you when you think about this passage? How may we implement this passage into our own lives? In what ways are we ensnared by arrogance, vanity and pride?

Until Next Time,
God Bless

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Post-Prodigal

-
          One of my biggest struggles as a believer in Christ is who I have been, versus who Christ says I am as a believer in Him. I admit, I have allowed the self-critical voice in my head, or what others say and think marginalize the greatness of Who He Is in me and what He can do in me. In my past’s personal walk, I have had the tendency to be more of a Prodigal Son, than a steadfast believer. How many of us have had that: “Give me salvation, Father. All right, now, I got this…” sort of mentality?               I wonder, if we are being transparent with ourselves, how many of us have allowed our missteps, whatever it is—that abortion, that DUI, that undeleted browser history, that drug abuse or that affair—to label and imprison us? How many of us have succumbed to the smug, self-satisfied taunts of “She will never change! You know she aborted…” or “He is still just an addict. Give him enough rope, he’ll hang himself…” Or, “Once a cheater, always a cheater.” Have you allowe
Read more

Rotten Words=Foul Mouths

-
            “Let no unwholesome (literally: rotten ) word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.”—Ephesians 4:29 NASB      Summer is hectic. Added to that, having a four-year-old that struggles with authority and is awaiting pediatrician referred testing for ADD and ODD, simple outings can turn into wars. As a parent, this can be very trying. I am not a doctor; I am not qualified to diagnose my son. However, I am intelligent enough to know that he has behavioral issues that have at times caused me to give pause and wonder if he is on the spectrum or possibly does have ADD or ODD. We’ll only know for sure when the testing ensues, and he is diagnosed by a licensed psychiatrist.      Yet, it makes for difficult times. For example, yesterday I went to get my car’s oil changed and tires rotated. My kid was good for a while but then he started to get bored, wouldn
Read more

Be of Kind-Mind!

-
“Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.” Romans 12:16 NASB      It’s easy to get caught up in how the world operates. Especially now with the way social media lets everyone have a voice. I am for having a voice. However, a lot of times, what we see is not helpful or even cordial toward one another. A positive post that is uplifting and edifying can be overlooked while a post that smears someone has a million views and thousands of hateful comments. As believers, we are called to be set apart from that and to be different with one another.      One thing God has made clear to me through the course of my life is everything except redemption and all that comes with receiving God’s gift of salvation is fleeting. If we are blessed to see old age, the super-smart must contend with losing memories just as those whom the culture labels as intellectually lacking. The well-to-do person who l
Read more