Look at the night skies: Who do you think made all this? Who marches this army of stars out each night, counts them off, calls each by name—so magnificent! so powerful!—and never overlooks a single one?
Isaiah 40:26 (The Message)
Do you realize that when you look up into the night sky on a clear night and see the glittering stars that you are only viewing a fraction of the stars of heaven? There are billions of stars in the universe – some of them are massively bigger than our tiny earth. There are billions of nebulae scattered across the galaxy in brilliant displays of color and shapes. There are billions of galaxies with billions of stars. God told Abraham in Genesis 15:5 that his descendants would be like the stars of heaven – innumerable. Through the Psalmist David He said in Psalm 19:1 that “the heavens declare the glory of God.”
When I look up into the clear night sky and see the stars across the heavens I consider them to be the Jewels of God. Every night the stars are there in testimony to the faithful hand of the Creator. Every night they shine forth the glory of God. Every night they declare the majesty of Almighty God. And every night that I see the stars in the heavens, I am utterly amazed. God knows where every single star, galaxy, planet, asteroid, meteor, comet, and any other celestial body is – at all times! Not one of the billions of billions of stars burn out with out God knowing it. Not one! He has a name for each star and He counts them, never missing one star.
And then I think, if God cares so much about the Jewels of heaven, how much more does He care about me – the Jewel of His Grace. God’s Word tells me that He lavished His Grace on me (Ephesians 1:7, 8). This verse reminds me of a quote by Mark Lowry. “God spreads Grace like a four year old spreads peanut butter. He gets it all over everything.” How awesome is that! God freely dispenses His Grace to any who will receive it. Not only that, once we are placed into God’s family through Grace, He continues to lavish us with His Grace. God knows that we need it. It is by Grace that we are saved. It is by Grace that we are kept until that final day when we stand before Christ our Redeemer in the judgment of believers. Think about this, friends, heaven is a gift of God’s Grace to you and I! It is something that we don’t deserve but something of which we get the full benefits!
So, here is the thought or question. If you and I are the Jewels of God’s Grace – we’ve been saved by it and sanctified through it – what gives us the right to condemn another Jewel of God’s Grace? Suppose that a brother or sister has fallen into sin. Is it not our responsibility as fellow heirs of God’s kingdom to restore that brother in all humility? Is it not our obligation of love to reach out and graciously call that brother or sister to repentance? If we are all the Jewels of God’s Grace, then why do we so often mimic the Pharisees who brought the woman caught in adultery? We are so quick to condemn and so slow to forgive. If the very God who knows and counts and names all the stars is quick to offer Grace, should we not be quick to offer Grace to mimic our Heavenly Father? If God cares so much about you and me that He counts the very number of hairs on our heads (those who are bald or balding, He remembers the number as if it were yesterday) how do we deem ourselves worthy of the right to condemn someone who has sinned and repented. We don’t even have the right to condemn the one who has not repented. Only God has that right. He just wants us to be faithful and call the unrepentant to know the surpassing riches of God’s Grace.
Here is my admonition to you: if you are sinning, stop. God is calling you to repentance and desires that you know the depths of His Grace (which does include life changing discipline). If you are repentant and striving to live daily in God’s Grace, pray for those who condemn you. The church is full of these sharks, and they need God’s Grace as much as the repentant sinner. Live every day in the Grace of God. You are His sparking Jewel of Grace; and, because you are the Jewel of His Grace, lavish His Grace on those around you. Call the sinners to know God’s Grace, and when they come to repentance treat them like the Jewel they are – God does.
m.r. cetas
