The Gift of Grace | Holidays with Crossroads

What's going on, good people? My name is Miko. Hey, and I'm Chuck Mingo, and yeah, we're talking about Grace. The gift of Grace. The gift of Grace. We were talking about this a little bit before, man. I remember this birthday present that I really wanted. It was a Huffy Sigma bike. Okay. This is going way back, man. It's like, this is the 80s. This is the 80s. But it was, the thing about this bike was, it had, instead of spokes for the wheels, it had these discs, these white discs, and of course, it was supposed to be like a super fast bike. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, growing up in Philly, you're like, working class, but I had told my parents very clearly, like, I want this bike. Okay. And so, I was hopeful that I would get this bike, and so my birthday was on a school day that day. I remember it was on a school day. So I wake up that morning, and my mom and dad had some little gifts for me, and I'm opening the little gifts, but I'm like, hoping for the bike, you know? Yeah, yeah. No bike. No bike. No bike, right? Opening some more small gifts, hoping for the bike. No bike.

So, I'm like, finishing up my breakfast, and it's almost time to go to school, and, you know, my dad kind of looks at me, and he's like, hey, hey, why don't you go in the kitchen? And I go in the kitchen, and I mean, it was like, oh, you know, the whole thing, right? The Huffy Sigma bike was there. That was an OG move. It was an OG move from my dad. You got that right, man. And I just remember thinking about that, because, you know, I thought maybe I didn't deserve that gift, or I thought my parents had forgotten me when I was opening up those small gifts. Little did I know, they had the gift that I was hoping for there the whole time. Right. I love, I love what, there's a few things that stand out when you tell that story, man. One is just that timing. I love the perfect timing of the gift, right? It's so very similar, as we're talking about grace, just the way God operates with us, right? Another thought that comes to mind, Chuck, man, even with the timing is, we know exactly how much value to ascribe to a bike, right? We know, we know, we get it. We know what a bike is. I think it's this concept of grace, especially as we're, whether we're believers, whether you're non-believers, whether you're early in your walk, it's like the idea of grace. It seems to be kind of one of those things that's just kind of sprinkled on top of all of the other Christian conversations, right? In your words, what is grace? Yeah, man. I never forget simple way somebody taught it to me, God's riches at Christ's expense. G-R-A-C-E. That's what grace is. Grace is us getting something that we can't earn, but also something we can't ever lose.

And I think grace, to your point, like we can make it kind of this, what is grace? Grace is the fact that God forgives a sinful man like me. Grace is the fact that God chooses to empower me to live a life I couldn't live without him. Grace is the gift of this brotherhood, right? The relationship that you and I get to share, like there's all of these riches that I get that I didn't pay for, but Jesus paid for. Yeah. That's so good. That's a bar. I'm going to remember that, man. I think it's like, as you're explaining that, what I hear in that is like, grace does two things simultaneously, right? It does not excuse you of where you fall short. It admits exactly how broken we are, even when we may not admit it ourselves, but then also reveals to us and declares how loved we are. So it's like, it does both of these things. Because if grace was not at an expensive cost, then I guess it would be cheap grace. And then it wouldn't be so much to value because it's like, you know, it didn't really cost anything. But it's like, as you explain it this way, as we really sit and unpack what grace is, it's like we could sit in the posture of just this gratitude. That's what comes to mind, like sitting in the gratitude of what we receive. But then it also reveals like the heart and nature of the Father that's given it to us, bro. Yeah, man. That is so good. That's so good. And I think it's important because, look, man, let's be honest, all of us have had moments where we felt defined by the worst thing we've ever done.

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. The thing about grace is God doesn't define us by the worst thing we've ever done. And so I think it would be easy for someone to think like, I'm too far gone for grace. God might give grace to people who haven't made major mistakes, but he's not going to give grace to me because what I did is so unforgivable. And man, the good news is nothing, nothing is unforgivable in the eyes of God, nothing. And I think that's what makes it like a gift and it being so incredible because there's nothing that you can do to qualify it. But there's nothing that you can do that disqualifies you. That's right. That's right. It just, it all reflects back to his goodness and his perfect wisdom. I love the verse when it talks about how grace is to lead us to repentance. I'm reminded of a time, I remember this is when I, this is when I came home off of my last number and I was, I was actually in a transitional housing and I was sitting on my rack and my brother. was speaking life into me, and he had made a comment. He was like, Niko, man, do you know like how mad Satan is right now? He's like, think about all of the things that you've done, all of the things that he's tripped you up on, all of the temptations you fail for, and yet he's probably looking at God, like how does he get another chance? How does he get another opportunity? And when I think about that, right, I'm reminded of what it talks about in Revelations when it refers to Satan as like the accuser of bread, right? And Jesus being our advocate.

And it's like, as he's coming before the judge and building his case against me, and it's not as if God says, oh yeah, no, it's okay, I just forgive him. It's like, no, Jesus paid the price for all of that. Like, yes, this does not lessen that the wages of sin or death, like no, but he paid that cost. And I think that's what really postures us in his gratitude where this grace is not cheap, and it's like, wow, like, okay, God, like you, in your perfect wisdom, you knew where to place your grace. You knew when and where it would lead us to repentance. And we don't even have to like settle with like this consolation prize. Like he, in his perfect wisdom, knows exactly where to place his best for us, right? And I don't know, I think that anytime I think of grace, that's just something that I constantly just ponder on, man, because it's just, I don't know what we'd be without it. Bro, that's so good. Yeah. That's so good. And thanks for your, just sharing your story, like an honest moment where you realize like, I got a second chance. Yeah, yeah, or a fifth. Yeah, yeah, or a 25th, or a hundredth, man. Like I have gotten chance after chance,

after chance, after chance. And I think, you know, we're talking about this and, you know, whether it's the holidays or not, I mean, the invitation is there for, you know, you, whoever listening right now, who listening to this, the opportunity for you to receive grace is now, right? This is not a gift that is passing by. It's a gift that remains unopened and you can receive it. You can receive it today. Yeah. You know? That's so good, man. And it's literally like, as you explained it, it's like it's there, but we have to choose it. We have to choose it. In order to actually experience it. And the thing is, that's what's so rad about it, right? With the thing of grace, with grace, like you're experiencing it, whether you realize it or not. That's right. In order to actually, like, I guess, no, I say you're benefiting from it, whether you realize it or not. But in order for you to actually recognize it and I guess you could still say experience it. Like you have to acknowledge it and embrace it. Yeah. And it's funny, because I'm thinking like, what else do we have that could even like compare to that? Like something that you don't qualify for,

you're not disqualified from, it's there whether you know it or not. The closest thing I can think of is like air. Yeah, right. You can't look. You know, that's the closest thing I can think of, bro. It's like every time I take a breath, right? Exactly. Every time I take a breath. You are, man. It's a grace. It's a grace. Absolutely, man. To go back to that bike, man, you know, I'm dating myself again. But that bike was no use in the kitchen. I had the gift, but it was not, I didn't want it for it to sit in the kitchen. I wanted it because I wanted to ride it. I had these sneakers. You remember pegs? Remember pegs? Well, I didn't have pegs. I was standing on the screws of the wheel of the bike, man. I didn't ask for pegs, but I didn't have pegs. You did on a Christmas Eve. Oh, I did. My parents skipped that, went over it. But I remember riding the bike so hard and so much that I had troops.

If you remember troop sneakers, that was like LL Cool J was promoting them. Somebody remembers troops. Somebody watching this remembers troop sneakers. And I ripped a hole in my sneakers because I tried to stand on the troops. Not in the troops. The white troops. But I think about that to what you're saying with grace. But you know what? I was out there riding the bike. And here's the thing. Grace is a gift to be opened. Grace is a gift to be spent. Grace is a gift to be received. Like Jesus, Jesus paid a big price for the grace that he offers to us. He wants us to receive. No matter where we are, no matter what we've done, he wants us to take it. He wants us to receive that gift. That's so good. It seems like when I hear that, man, the perfect followup to that, to be honest with you, Chuck, is as we're called to be with God and be like God. And it's like, as we're recipients of that grace, we're also called to be givers of that grace. You know what I mean?

And I think the world provides so many different opportunities. Right, you know what I'm saying? Like for us to reflect that God's grace. Exactly, to each other. I'm reminded of a verse, verse Peter 14, where it talks about... for us to also then like give those, can I just read it? Yeah, just bring it down and read it, yeah. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. And I think, I love the piece where at the end when it says its various forms, because one of the things that that shows is that, that as there's gonna be many different opportunities for us to reflect God's grace, there's gonna be many different opportunities for us to reflect it differently, you know what I mean? And just to be mindful of that, to be on the lookout for that, like who deserves grace today or rather who doesn't? But because I didn't, you know what I mean? Now I get to be like, you know what I mean? I get to be like Jesus, bro. And I think that if we were to see the world that way, imagine even how much a difference you can make in your immediate surroundings and then let that trickle out.

Yeah, I don't know. Well, I tell you what, I mean, as you're listening to this, I wanna give you an invitation and that is, you might wanna do this right now. You wanna hit pause or whatever right now, grab a sheet of paper and just think about these questions. Number one, where in your life do you feel like you don't deserve grace? I think it's important to name that. I think it's important to confront the things that make us feel like we're beyond grace. In fact, if you wanna do this, I would encourage you to make that list of the here's the reasons I don't think I deserve grace. And here's the second thing I'm gonna have you do. I want you to cross out everything on the list you make because nothing that you write down keeps you from the grace of God. Cross out everything on that list. And then maybe that final reflection is think about who can I give grace to today? Who needs my grace today? And it might be somebody that is hard to give it to. It might be somebody who's easy to give it to. But as you do that, you're opening that gift of grace that you've received and you're sharing with the world. I imagine a person just walking past that needs that grace, as you mentioned. Who's in your peripheral right now?

It's that person. Yeah, that person. Yeah, don't pick and choose. Nah, that person. You know who it is. That's so good. Absolutely. That's so good. I'm thankful for being a recipient of grace because I know I didn't deserve God's grace. But he loved me and he loved you and he loves you enough to give it to us anyway. Absolutely, man. Grace is the gift that doesn't expire and it has your name on it. Nico, I think it'd be great for you to just pray. It's the holidays. Absolutely. People kind of encountering this at a time where they may need an extra dose of that grace. I'd love for you to just pray for us. Absolutely. Lord, we thank you. We love you. I love you for who you are. For your very nature, Father. The relationship that we get to have with you because of the grace that you bestowed upon us and your son, Jesus, that allows us to be reconciled back to you.

Father, we thank you for your perfect wisdom. Lord, as much as we get in our own way and as much as we may get frustrated with things that we experience down here, Father, may we take a moment to just sit in gratitude for what you've already done, for what you're doing, and for just the perfect plans that you have for each and every one of us, Lord. Father, we love you. Not only because you loved us first. Pray hard to see your son, Jesus, soon.