GOOD STEWARDS OF GRACE
Dear brothers and sisters,
1 Peter 4:10 says; “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” NKJV
The Bible teaches us that every one of us is a member of the great body of Christ of which Jesus Christ our Lord is the Head.
1 Cor. 12:13-18 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free — and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is not one member but many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? 18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. NKJV
Every one of us has a God given place where we fit in the body of Christ and everyone of us has specific grace and gifting to do a specific job. According to the above Scripture, there is a big problem of people looking at other body parts and wishing they were that part. It’s easy to romanticize something we don’t know anything about; to wish we could do what someone else does. However if we did what they did as long as they have, we would probably change our minds. Brethren, you want to be what you are and operate in the grace that belongs to you.
1 Cor. 7:7 But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that.
Eph 4:7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. NKJV
From the above Scriptures, we can conclude that an ear is graced to be an ear, an eye is graced to be an eye, a foot is graced to be a foot and a mouth is graced to be a mouth and each part only fits where it belongs. If you try to walk around with your knees, you’d be bruised. If you try to comb your hair with your foot, it will not work as well as it would if you did it with your hands.
This is why it is wrong to tell your children or anyone: “You can be anything you want to be.” If you’re a Christian, you have been placed in the body by God as He willed you to be. So it is for you to discover what God has already foreordained for you and to function in that place.
We know that God ordained not only the part you are but He also ordered where you were to dwell geographically. The fact that you were born in this nation in this time in history is not an accident. You could have been born in the 1500’s or in the 1700’s. You could have been born as a Congolese pygmy or a South African Zulu. But you were born here in this season for a reason. You and I will never come up with a better plan than God’s. He knows the end from the beginning and He knew who would believe in Him and where they would fit best. Beyond that, He is working to help you discover who and where you fit.
Phil 2:13 … for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. NKJV
Brethren, the first step in being a good steward of the grace of God in your life is to discover your place! and function faithfully in your grace.