Gospel Revolution Testimonial: God’s Grace is Bigger!
Recently, we were blessed to have Pastor Byung Ham speak at our annual Gospel Revolution. Out of the many topics he covered, the one topic that resonated in my heart was that of communal commitment. Pastor Byung asks, “How do we live out the saying ‘Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future’ and share this with the world”?
This question personally speaks to me because since giving my life to God, I wrestle with making sense of my past life, specifically my life before I had a personal relationship with God. Before I knew God at the age of 32, my life was marked by a rebellion against God. So I often find myself wrestling with questions such as: Was I running in the opposite direction of God’s will or was this somehow all a part of God’s perfectly orchestrated will? When I think about my past, am I doing it in a matter that I am glorifying myself or glorifying the sinful acts in the past? Should I be looking back at my past with regret? Should I be completely forgetting the past since I am now a new creation?
Upon hearing Pastor Byung’s sermon, it helped me to organize my thoughts about these questions. `
Paul reminds me as he instructs the Ephesians to “Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:12-13). Clearly there is a sense in which we must remember our past failures but for what specific purpose?
Pastor Byung states “we must resolve to use our past failures for our future ministries” which led me to two applications:
1) To have a greater appreciation of God’s grace and to know that no matter how big your sins are, God’s grace is infinitely bigger. As Pastor Byung says: “it’s in our failures not our successes that God’s grace shines brightest in us and in the lives of others”.
Sometimes I think about all of my failures as being in my pre-conversion life but I often take lightly the failures of my post-conversion life and the multiple sins I commit every single day… sins in my thoughts, attitude, words, and deeds. Despite the world telling us that we are okay and we are good people, we need to remember that we are sinners. Paul writes: “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost” (1 Timothy 1:15). So not if, but when we sin, God wants us not to sweep our transgressions under the rug but to confess our sins, repent and come clean so that God may use those failures to show the magnitude of God’s grace and to use it for future ministries.
2) To be able to evangelize more effectively. One of the most fundamental commonalities we have and therefore makes it possible for us to connect with others is that we are all broken people living in a fallen world, sinners in need of grace. We need to see that all people are made in the image of God and worth dying for as Jesus died for all, and that it is not of our own doing but 100% God’s grace that allows us to believe.
God gives us the privilege of sharing the gospel to others. Therefore, in the midst of all that is wrong in the world today, we need to not merely help fix or help others get out of trouble but ultimately to offer hope that is only found in Jesus. This hope needs to start with confessing our sins to God and to each other. The world needs to hear of our brokenness and what we need saving from in order to hear of our hope.
How awesome God is to orchestrate and interweave our past failures to use it for good. Therefore, we have a responsibility to use the resource of failures that God has given us not to weigh us down but rather for us to remember our sins but only in a way if it leads us to praise God, to remember the riches of God’s grace and in turn, use it as fuel for us to press on in faith and to tell the world about our wonderful Savior.
