Seeing Grace

     A couple of weeks ago I was speaking about Barnabas from Acts 11 in a situation where the early church was going through some growing pains.  Some outside of Judaism were beginning to follow Jesus and that made the primary church group uncomfortable.  They worked together, listened to God's voice and got it resolved.
     Shortly thereafter, another rather large group of non-Jews who had begun to follow Jewish customs converted to following after Jesus.  Rather than struggle through the conversation again, they sent Barnabas from Jerusalem to Antioch to see what God was doing.  He arrived and with joy in his heart challenged them to continue faithfully with the Lord.  It was a great time of challenge and growth for the early church.
     Something struck me since that talk and I thought I'd drop a little challenge your way.  The text says that when Barnabas "came and saw the grace of God, he was glad..."
     I wonder: how do you see the grace of God?  Grace isn't something tangible that you can actually share with someone.  You can't run down to the local convenience store and by a box of it.  How can you see it?  Obviously it's like the wind or like love; you see the effects of it.
     So, what are the effects of grace?  Obviously conversion from anything to following Jesus is an effect of grace.  What else comes to your mind?  Here are some of the ways I suspect it was obvious.

Continuing transformation of those who are already converted...

Growth in acting and thinking like Jesus...

A greater concern for others who were not already following Jesus...

Less inclination to continue in the patterns of life that they had before...

More love for other fellow believers...

A tendency to criticize less and encourage more...

     Let me ask you a more penetrating question.  If Barnabas showed up at your church or small group (or home or workplace, for that matter) would he see the grace of God evidently at work?  If you answer yes, you should be able to point to some areas that would make it obvious.  Resist the temptation to start listing the usual activities and focus more on the heart conditions that would lead to actively representing Jesus well.
     I want to be the kind of Christ-follower that engenders gladness when others see me.  I'm going to try to be more focused on that.  Would you join me?
     I'd be interested to know what you would add to my list of "grace signs."  Drop them in the comments; I'd love to hear from you.

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