Heart Tracks - Losing Grace

    So many of us make life all about accumulating, adding on, getting more.  Yet, in reality, life is far more about losing than anything else.  Everything we have, everyone we know, all, sooner or later, will be lost to us.  And in the loss comes pain, heartache, sorrow.  Loss is a reality we will never escape.  The pain of losing things can be great, but the pain of losing loved ones, people who are cherished, can be excruciating beyond words.  Some, many, never get beyond this pain.  The wound of the loss may be as real or terrible as on the day it happened.  Others refuse to acknowledge its depth, and seek to bury the sorrow through activity, achievement, and of course, denial.  Some, too few, find, in the loss, Christ, or, more correctly, allow themselves to be found by Him.

     I read an account recently of a woman coming to grips with the soon departure from this life of her beloved mother.  She of course wished that she would never leave, but of course, she would.  The day was approaching when she would lose her.  As the pain closed in, she was finding in its midst what she termed, "losing grace."  Grace that would allow her to let go.  Not let go of the memories, the love, or even the missing, but grace that would not allow any of those, and so many other emotions, take hold of her, and rob her of joy, and trap her in the captivity of the sorrow of loss.
     We feel loss on so many levels and in every part of life, and it may take many forms beyond death.  Parents feel the loss of children who grow up, leave home, and move away.  Sometimes far away.  Pastor's feel the loss of sheep who stray, church members who leave, ministries that are lost, and relationships that are broken.  There is the loss of a marriage and family through divorce, of a son or daughter through rebellion, of grandchildren as a result of interfamilial strife.  There really is no end, and life can, in the end, seem to be about nothing so much as loss.  The resulting pain can be more than we can bear.  We know His grace is sufficient, but why doesn't it seem sufficient for us?  Paul said he was joyfully willing to suffer the loss of all things in order to obtain Christ, and we want to feel and believe that too.  Why do we have such a difficult time doing that?  How can we handle the crushing losses of life?
     I think the answer lies in something Beth Moore wrote.  She spoke of having to say goodbye to her daughter and her family for a very long time as they moved half-way around the world in answer to His call.  Their separation would be for a very long time, and the pain she felt was intense, and was not diminishing.  Then, in such a time of sorrowing over her loss, she heard the voice of the Father say to her, "Worship Me with it, Beth.  Bring that ache to my altar and I will esteem it as a lavish offering."  In her obedient response to that call, she found "losing grace," and the fullness of her God.  In her sacrificial worship, her own living out of Romans 12:1, presenting not only herself, but all of her loss and all the varying emotions and thoughts that went with it, as an offering to Him, in the giving of all of that, she found and received all of Him.  In wholehearted worship of Him, we find "losing grace," and an endless supply of it.
     Not one who reads this today is without loss in their life.  In it, what consumes you?  The loss, or the fullness of His grace?  Losing grace.  You will have it today if you'll come to Him.....in worship.

Blessings,

Pastor O