Look in the Mirror and Proclaim, “This Is What Grace Looks Like.”

Dr. Michael C. Carson, Full Columnist

I have had the great and distinct honor of knowing the vice president for Student Life and the dean of Students for Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, Bonita Washington-Lacey, and a member of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Richmond, Indiana, since we were students at Earlham College. Bonita was a year ahead of Evangelist Cathy and me in college. Recently we spent an entire evening sharing on the theme of “Grace.”

Grace is “the spontaneous, unmerited gift of the divine favour in the salvation of sinners, and the divine influence operating in individuals for our regeneration and sanctification.”

As Bonita was sharing with me about how her life is going with its many blessings and challenges, and I was sharing with her the same in my life, I informed Bonita, “Girl, you need to look in the mirror and right now say to yourself, ‘This is what grac e looks like!’

In fact, I went to my mirror and told Bonita, “Right now I am looking in my mirror with tears of joy coming down my face proclaiming, ‘This is what grace looks like!’”

“Amazing grace shall always be my song of praise, for it was grace that brought my liberty. I’ll never know just why he came to love me, so he looked beyond my faults and saw all my needs!”

“My chains are gone; I’ve been set free. My God, my Savior, has ransomed me. And like a flood, God’s mercy reigns. Unending love, amazing grace!”

“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind, but now I see.”

Karma is the relationship between a person’s action and the consequences following that action. There is a “Pauline principle” that is “Karmatic.”

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).

But oh, thank God grace supersedes karma!

“Karma is all about getting what you deserve. Grace is all about getting what you do not deserve!”

God’s grace – “favor toward the unworthy” and “benevolence on the undeserving.” God’s grace forgives and blesses us, even when we sometimes fall so short of living righteously.

“For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

“God’s grace does not take away or restrict our freedom; rather, it perfects our freedom by helping us overcome the restricting power of sin, the true obstacle to our freedom.”

Bonita, I am sure you can, I can, and my friend, as you are reading this column, can you also hear Evangelist Cathy singing, “And I shall forever lift my eyes to Calvary. To view the cross where Jesus died for me. How marvelous, how marvelous God’s grace that caught my falling soul. God looked beyond every one of my faults and saw my needs!”

Beloved, look in your mirror right now, considering all the hills and valleys, joys, and pain God has brought you through, and exuberantly proclaim thanking God, “Yes, this is what grace looks like!”

If I were preaching right now, I would encourage you to, “Say yeah!”

I’m just saying!

Peace with justice and mercy, be blessed real, real good, attend worship, and families matter.

Dr. Michael C. Carson may be reached by e-mail at refreshingcoach@gmail.com.

...From Back Together p2

Before becoming an Episcopal supervisor, First Lady Talbot served the church in various capacities, including church organist, Sunday school teacher, and Women’s Missionary Society member and president. Supervisor Talbot has inspired and guided women and young people to address issues related to health, education, poverty, and sexism. During her WMS presidency, Supervisor Talbot successfully guided Church Women United in adopting poverty as a five-year program imperative. She worked continuously in leadership development and was recognized for innovative programming.

Individually, they were awesome, so much so that we cannot tell it all. Together, they were the epitome of godly servant leadership. The work they did speaks for them, the service they gave speaks for them, and the life they lived speaks for them. They were given much, and they produced so much more. God received the glory, and all of us are still reaping the benefits of their self-sacrificial service. And now, once again, “the two shall become one flesh.” The Talbot’s lives are living testimonies of what God is able to do when God’s people have a mind to work and serve.

How can we say thanks for what the Talbots have done for the AME Church and the world? Simply stated, go and do likewise. ❏ ❏ ❏