This article first appeared on The Christian Broadcasting Network |
“…and great grace was upon them all” (Acts 4:33b).
I hope you can look back on seasons or situations in your life and say with me, “That was great grace.” In other words, when we should’ve been buried under the grief, or the pressure to make a hard decision, or persecution for following our convictions, but we weren’t— instead, God’s peace held us in the middle of the storm and turned a trial into a triumph.
This is great grace.
By definition, the Greek describes grace a few ways: as a favor done for someone without any expectation of getting something in return; which is why grace is given by God and received by man. Many simply call it unmerited favor.
Another definition that piggy-backs this one is the reality that when grace is received by faith, it completely transforms a person and causes them to love God (in return, because of course He loved us first).
The point is that grace is help in time of need. It’s something we can’t conjure up on our own— it’s divine help. So now add the word “great” and what do we have? It’s not hard to define great— it means of larger magnitude, number, size, or amount.
GREAT GRACE is the superabundant supply of God’s help in time of need.
Ten years ago this month, our family experienced great grace— to the degree that after all these years, I still shake my head and say, “Thank you Jesus for the help and love you showed us.”
Our oldest son Benjamin had just finished his first year of bible college and had come home for a short visit for Father’s Day. The two brothers he had traveled with left a day early to return to Oklahoma while he spent some extra time with us and waited to travel back with a new roommate who was going to move in with them. On Monday morning, they piled into the loaded down pick-up and took off. But about six hours into their trip, we received a phone call that their truck had slid off the road and grazed a guardrail that freakishly caused the gas tank to pop open and ignite their truck on fire as it flipped through the air and landed in the ditch.
Benjamin was trapped upside-down in his seatbelt while the driver courageously crawled out his broken window and tried to rescue him. Benjamin later said he remembered being in his seatbelt but he doesn’t remember unbuckling it. He remembers being in the burning truck but doesn’t remember how he got out. The driver was only able to drag him to safety once he was out because of the extreme heat coming off the vehicle.
Great grace.
The deputy that came to visit us at the hospital said he’s never found survivors of an accident like this one.
Great grace.
When we arrived at the hospital (experiencing more grace on that long drive), we were told our son had a 50/50 chance to live because of the amount of his burns and the damage to his lungs. Thankfully, we didn’t have to scramble to find God’s Word on healing. We got a list of scriptures together and during the short ICU visits we were allowed with him, we read God’s Word out-loud over our son as he lay unconscious on a ventilator before us.
It was hard to leave him every night as we went across the street to our hotel. But we were walking in great grace.
When Benjamin woke up seventeen days later, his first words were: “Am I going to live?” And “Will I play the drums again?” By faith, we answered YES to both, because with great grace comes increased faith— a trust that all things are possible with God!
Benjamin had six skin graft surgeries and a tracheotomy during his eight weeks in the hospital. But today, his scars are almost non-existent. If you look for them, you’ll see them. But his life is a testimony of God’s goodness and great grace. He has since finished bible school, got married, had two children, and impacted many lives as a youth pastor, camp director, and now as an associate pastor.
I asked him recently, “Can you believe it’s been ten years?” He replied, “Haha, I hardly think about it.’
