Gift of God Devotional

As I continue to go through 2 Corinthians, I am considering this question: What does it look like to receive God’s grace in vain? (2 Cor. 6:1)

Simply put, it means to ignore God’s grace and kindness and the gift of walking with Him. It’s very possible to know about His grace and even profess Christ as your savior while not letting that same grace affect what you say and do. Many believers profess to be saved, and will even go to church (sometimes) and pretend to be a model “Christian” just to keep up an appearance. Those same Christians may go through the rest of their weeks not giving God a second thought, even though they will go around telling others that they are Christians. I may not know the hearts and faith of everyone that professes to be a believer, but I do know this… As believers, we are called to be ambassadors for Christ – we are called to represent Him as “little Christs” in a fallen world. Are you representing and reflecting Jesus to the people around you, or are you just telling others that you are a believer?

As believers, we are called to be different and separate from the world. 2 Corinthians 6:14 tells us to “not be yoked together with unbelievers.” Ephesians 5:11 tells us to “have nothing to do with the fruitless seeds of darkness,” and 1 John 1:6-7 takes it a step further with these words:

“If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purified us from all sin.”

Are you walking in the light or in the darkness? Are your ways different from the ways of the world?

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” (James‬ ‭2‬:‭14‬, ‭17‬-‭18‬, ‭26‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

My dad and I are not always the best of friends, but I love him dearly. He has been a tremendous influence in my life, both in good and bad ways. However, I cannot help but say that my parents have been the biggest influence on who I am and my faith is today. I remember hearing my dad tell something that I think was the most wonderful and beautiful representation of his faith. My dad used to travel a lot for work, and in his travels he would interact with a lot of people. Over the course of his travels, he would have people who worked with him come up and say things along the lines of this: “Hey, I’ve noticed that you seem a little different than the other people I have worked with and know. What’s different about you?” And my dad would take that opportunity to tell them that what was different was that he had Jesus!

I have had people tell me before that they would not have thought I was a Christian if I did not tell them. Specifically, I have been told that I am not like other “Christian’s” they have met – the ones that are negative and judgmental. I have been told I am kind to people that have been judged and even persecuted by Christian’s. I was raised in a house where we love the people around us, no matter who they are, what they are, what they believe, etc. Despite being told that I am a much nicer Christian than others in their life, however, I have never been told I seem “different”. I look up to my dad in a lot of ways, and him being “different” is my favorite of all. I know my dad is not perfect (I’m not just saying that as his son, he will be the first to tell you it), but I know that he strives to be different from this world that we live in. I strive to follow in those steps, but I know that I daily fall short of this. Luckily, we have a promise in Philippians:

“In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians‬ ‭1‬:‭4‬-‭6‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

God continues to work in me every second of every day, and I long for the day when someone looks at me and asks me that simple question: “What’s different about you?”

So, what’s different about you?