Committed to His Grace

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

COMMITTED TO HIS GRACE

Acts 14:26-28

26 From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. 27 On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 And they stayed there a long time with the disciples.

NIV

This trip was concluded and thus they returned from their starting point. Nothing there that is relevant to our lives. However, it is interesting how this conclusion to their trip was recorded. They returned to where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. Once again,  it would seem the word grace shows up again and it is difficult to see this word defined as unmerited favor. We would have to think this Greek word Charis is better seen in this context as they were committed to the divine influence of God and how their work was how His divine influence was reflected in their lives. It would be the same as when someone is called to serve the Lord in a pastoral capacity and the church recognizes what God has done, by influencing this person's heart, and how it is reflected in that pastor's work. We cannot remember the church ever asking for the unmerited favor to rest on the person called into service, but rather that God would bless them, direct them, or influence their lives. This is all about keeping in step with the Spirit. He leads us and we follow his divine leading or divine influence upon our heart, his grace, and what we do is the reflection of His influence. Paul would be the first to say, that he is but a human, with no special abilities, however, he made himself available to the direction of the Spirit. This is all we can do, make ourselves available to the leading of the Spirit, the divine influence of God, and take it to heart, thus following the call and being the person, He has called. We may not be qualified for the call or the design He has upon our lives, but we can be sure that if he calls us to a particular task, he will qualify us. That is, when he calls us to a task because we follow, he does the work in us, to bring us to the place of service. Oh sure, many have gone the route of the educational path, attaining degrees to qualify themselves to meet the standards of denominationalism, to meet the qualifications set upon certain positions in the body of Christ. That may be still seen as the leading of the Spirit, the divine influence, however, education alone can only be humanistic at best, unless it is accompanied by the divine influence upon the heart. We should all be committed to the grace of God.