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Shalom In Messiah Jesus:
Sometimes, Russian is a convenient
language. For example, the two words for grace and thanksgiving are closely related: blagodat and blagodarenia.
Deep
in your own soul, have you experienced that connection lately? Have you seen how God gives grace to a completely undeserving
person at the worst possible moment of your sinfulness? God longs to be gracious not only at the time of salvation, but also
in your daily life. Is your heart filled with gratitude?
We often have a hard time dealing with grace. We want some
of it, but we do not know how to receive it. We keep trying to deserve it, but we know we are not worthy of it. We realize
it is good and necessary, but we think there might be some danger in others receiving it.
Grace is a profound mystery
that God wants to reveal gloriously to our understanding. Many immigrants to Brooklyn are in His classroom today.
Think
of a lifelong atheist, a highly-educated Jew with no religious training, who has never really read the Bible. The Father begins
to draw her, and something too appalling yet wonderful to consider rises in her awareness.
Even in atheistic Soviet
times she had been taunted as a Christ-killer, but now she hears that His great love for her drove Him to the cross to free
her from sin. Both then and now, her heart cries, “I don’t deserve this!” And she is right. She struggles with the radical
new worldview, but cannot explain her tears.
Finally, she surrenders and receives, also by His grace, even faith and
the gift of eternal life. Thank God, and pray for the many like her.
For His Kingdom,
Leslie McMillan
Executive
Director
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