Grace...

Ruth 2:20 “Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, ‘May he be blessed of the Lord who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living and dead.’” I will be teaching from this verse on Sunday on the meaning of grace. Now I know that there is an exegetical problem in the text: “who is the antecedent of the pronoun, who?” Is Naomi referring to the Lord or to Boaz? Either way I believe that God is demonstrating His kindness to Naomi through Boaz. Indeed God is grace, but He chooses to use you to convey His grace.

There are so many ways that we can demonstrate God’s grace to others. When the world sees us serving and ministering to our community, our acts should represent the grace that we have received from our Lord. Joseph Sittler defines grace this way: “The fundamental meaning of grace is the goodness and loving-kindness of God and the activity of His goodness in and toward creation.” How has God shown grace to you? How are you showing it to others?