Someone once said, I think it was to CS Lewis:
“Dear Sir, how can you call yourself a Christian when you are so cantankerous & grumpy?”
Whereupon CS Lewis responded by saying, “My dear friend, you should have seen me BEFORE I was a Christian!”
Is it possible some of the greatest works of God’s grace in this world are done in the nooks & crannies of our lives where no one notices?
Take for example parishioner Patricia Alexander (rest her soul) who once told me about a lady who lived across the street from her when she was a little girl.
Pat said, “I thought this lady was crazy! She would say things to me like, ‘Patricia, guess what! Jesus helped me get out of bed today.’
“I thought she was completely nuts for saying that! But I realized later in life, after going through my own struggles, she was not crazy at all! She was actually carrying a load I knew nothing about! She was suffering from depression, and she was absolutely right! Jesus did help her get out of bed that day, and that was a huge act of God’s grace and mercy enabling her to do so!”
American Journalist and Political Commentator, Brit Hume, once said;
“Everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about, be kind to them!”
I just saw the movie “Cabrini”, about a nun who did amazing things helping the sick, helpless, orphaned and poor in NYC and throughout the world. It is hard to fathom the amount of mercy and charity that God worked through that woman.
But is it possible that she was born with unimaginable stamina, willpower, and grit? God may have blessed her beyond measure from the “get go” within her natural constitution.
So what about the person who has none of that unimaginable strength. What about the slob who is born with a natural disposition toward laziness, drunkenness, addiction, anxiety, depression, licentiousness, and brashness.
Is it possible Jesus applies even more grace and mercy to these lowly souls to:
-Get them out of bed,
-Not take that next drink,
-Look “up” when their natural disposition is to look “down”,
-Not be fearful 24/7, -Not be unfaithful to their spouse again,
-Not act brashly and cold, but kind and merciful, Etc.
Cabrini, Mother Teresa, Michelangelo, Augustine, Luther and the VERY FEW in history get all the Christian Celebrity because of the outstanding things God undeniably worked through them. But maybe they had the goods from the start? Maybe God gifted their DNA with high octane from the beginning so it took less grace to get them to do all their incredible deeds than it does to get a depressed person out of bed in the morning or a drunk to stop drinking?
We don’t know!
Only God knows.
He will reveal it on the Last Day.
Don’t be surprized, then, if a skid row bum who got out of a ditch by God’s grace is held up by God as His greatest work of grace in the world. Don’t be surprized if the most despicable, poor, humble, little church is held up as a greater work of God’s grace than all the cathedrals in Europe.
Jesus said: ”So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.”“
-Matthew 20:16-
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