One of our problems as Christians is that we can often fail to see things that are right in front of us. One of the most important principles I teach on I call the “PRINCIPLE OF PERCEPTION, EXALTATION and PROXIMITY”. It says this: what you fail to perceive in your life you will never be able to honour; what you fail to honour in your life you will never be close to you. It’s a divine principle that is hard-wired into the universe, and if you fail to understand this principle you will miss out on many things in your life.
Now, I want to spend the next few weeks looking at things that we often miss when they are right under our noses. I remember having to ask a friend to buy some food for me in a shop as I had forgot my wallet, but my bank card was in my shirt pocket all along. But I failed to perceive it, so I did not honour it, so it did not do me any good at all!
Now, today, I want you to think about this – the people that God has brought into your life have special grace on their life. They are remarkable people. God uses the people He brings into your life to bring gifts to you. It’s like the magi with Jesus – the people around you are great people with great gifts to help you do your mission. But if you do not see the grace on their lives, you will not exalt these people or their gifts, and therefore you will not have those gifts near you, you will not benefit from them.
I believe this makes perfect sense to you! Now the question you should be and hopefully are asking right now is “Pastor, how can you help me see the grace on the people God has brought into my life, so I can honour those people, honour the grace and benefit from their gifts”. That’s the right question, and the right answer is look at these people with a heart of love.
Last weekend, I was at a worship training day, with all the worship leaders and teams from three of our churches. Some people joked about when I would pick up a guitar, or play the drums or sing. It’s funny, but the truth is if you saw me do that you would miss the grace on my life. You would think why on earth is this person at the front of the church. It’s not the grace on my life. You might dismiss me, or laugh at me, but if you loved me, you would maybe listen to me and find out I express ideas through words not music, and I have a very different grace on my life. If eventually you heard me preach, you would be blessed, challenged, encouraged and inspired.
Don’t put a motivator in the place of an educator, don’t put an admin person in a place where they need flair, don’t put an efficient person in a place they need enthusiasm, don’t put an enthusiastic person in a place they need to be efficient. Love people to have their own grace and own gifts. Feed the gifts of the people near you, build on their gifts and do not become preoccupied with where they lack grace that you miss the remarkable grace on their lives.
You have people around you who can motivate you, encourage you, inspire you, challenge you – but you have no one around you who can do it all. Find out who offers what, and celebrate them.
I guarantee the grace you are missing in your life right now – God has given it to someone else and brought them into your life. Find out who, respect and honour their gift and watch them move towards you and benefit from that gift. You have areas in your life you are lacking grace and God will bring the right people to you. But they will not be like you because they have a different grace from you, so you have to learn to perceive them and celebrate them and not dismiss them as they are strange in your eyes and perspective. There is someone right now whose grace on their life is leading them to you, they are watching you struggle and loving you, and all you have to do is recognize it.
But often people miss out on the variants of grace in the body of Christ because we see someone with different grace from us, a different ability, different skills, different passions and we dismiss them for not having the grace – or even goals – we have.
I know husbands who are bitter at their wife for not being like them, rather than celebrating the grace on her life. And vice versa. That will cost you dearly. I know pastors who have only ever appointed elders that are like them, and they are paying dearly for it. And so on. This is the true acceptance of diversity – accepting the different graces on all our lives, so we all benefit!
Selah.
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