Hiding in the corner, I weep;
When shall I be free like others
When can I get up and get out
Like every other, and not be
Scoffed for what I suffer
And not be booed by what I bear?
When can my head sit straight
While I march down the streets;
Fearless, shameless, care-less?
Will I ever? Seems never
Yet that Voice within says, “Now
Is the moment of salvation
If only you believe; not later
And not tomorrow: now
Is the time to live your dream
For the rust that makes you
Squeak and creak, attracts God’s
Inexhaustible grease that turns
The wheels of excellence;
The basis of your consideration,
The reason for your qualification.

Can you imagine what would have happened if we were not sinners? Then Christ would not have had to come. There would have been no need for Him to suffer and die. All those would have amounted to wasted effort if He dared to carry on anyway. It was our worst liability, our sinfulness, that qualified us for God’s immeasurable grace. The very thing that worked our damnation, turned out to be the basis of our salvation. So if anyone, anywhere, by any chance, made it into this world without sin, then for such, Christ did not die. Ultimately for such, grace and mercy avails not. Our sinfulness, brought us to the attention of God’s graciousness.

I hear people complain about who they are, about what they don’t have, and wishing otherwise. No matter how you try to encourage them, nothing is sufficient to convince them that those seemingly unpleasant conditions they are uncomfortable with, and probably ashamed of, are divinely allowed to propel them out of their comfort zones, into God’s superabundant provisions and locations for their lives. They sneak around and hide away, from the very things that should propel them to get out and brazenly reach for change. Then they sit back and wonder why from year to year, nothing changes.

Who would have heard about Bartimaeus if not for his blindness? And if he was hiding away at home, he would have lived and died, blind as a bat. Without the issue of blood, who would have known the story of a woman that until that event, there would be no record of her existence? If she was pining away at home, she would have died with that issue. Same with the parents whose children were oppressed by evil spirits. Everyone who received a miracle was out, not hiding away in shame. They stepped out in spite of their shameful conditions. They wanted change so badly they couldn’t sit back and wait. They stepped out in faith. They stepped out in hope. And there were no guarantees when they stepped out. Nevertheless, they headed out.

Nobody had intimated Bartimaeus that Jesus would pass his way that day. He was out as usual, something he had possibly done every day: wake up and get out. Zacchaeus went to work as usual, despite the bad rap surrounding his means of livelihood. And that was where God met him. Ordinary people who wake up and get out, who find something and do it the best they can, are the ones who enjoy extraordinary experiences. Faithfulness and diligence on the same routine. . . . Then one day, on that same route, God shows up and the rest is history.

Oftentimes, we tend to make grace an excuse for laziness. We prefer to believe that grace will do what we should. We sit at home and expect it to work miracles and pay our bills. We squander our resources expecting that grace will keep topping and making it up for us. We live beyond our means trusting that it will cover up our laxities and when life wakes us to the ugly reality we’ve weaved in laxity, we wonder why grace doesn’t seem to measure up anymore.

Inasmuch as grace qualifies us to enjoy what we don’t merit, it will not do for us the things we have been enabled to, but fail to do because we are ignorant or unwilling to play our roles. Ignorance is no excuse. How can you voluntarily choose to go from day to day without desire for change, quest for knowledge, curiosity about things you don’t know, then expect change in circumstances? Changes don’t fall off the skies. Changes are ignited. God has a role to play and you have a contribution to make. Without either of the two, life rolls on, from day to day, and from year to year the same.

I have yet to see a life, changed for the better by complaining. Hardship is not bad luck, and suffering is not evil as touted. If you treat them thus, that is what they will become for you. Tough times come upon all; good and bad, rich and poor, learned and illiterate, old and young. Their outcomes depend of what you make of each. If you shove it aside as bad luck, it will linger for as long as you accommodate it. But if you accept hardship as challenge, and embrace suffering as training, you will reel in gains from seeming disasters. That is the difference between success and failure; while one complains, the other exploits. Who eventually profits? The exploiter, not the grumbler.

If you don’t like where you are, do something about it. And when you do something, give it your best. Don’t just work for profit lest you become a slave to greed. Do it with all your heart as unto the Lord. It may not pay what you seek but it is a free learning ground, to get you ready to live your dream. As an investor, I will not put my resources on anyone who is not willing to invest in themselves. I will not waste a cent on someone who is not ready to make sacrifices for what they believe. I’ve done a couple of those bad investments and they piled up as huge waste.

Life is for living and life is for the living. Life’s pressures are essential components for progress because they force us to get up and do what we ought. A long time ago, I learned that contrary to our ideas, grace does not say, “Relax and it will be done.” Instead, it whispers, “Get up and stay up for as long as you can. Keep moving. Go the extra mile. I’ll be there to crown your efforts with outstanding victory.” That does not mean that we trust in our efforts. There will be times when you’ve done all you know and nothing is shifting. Even then, don’t give up. We wait in trust and while we wait, we don’t shy away from responsibilities that demand our best. And we do all we can, trusting that grace will highlight the extraordinary features in our ordinary but diligent services.

In fact, grace is the fun factor that makes hard work enjoyable. It takes out the struggle in labor and makes the exercise exciting. It blends the diligence, perseverance and consistency in every commitment to produce rare results and exceptional rewards, in their due times. Grace says, “You can do what you didn’t know how to, better than those who have done it for many years.” It declares you fit for what you didn’t qualify not because it is a liar. Rather, the things we see as impossibilities, grace views as prospects and interprets them to us, in the language of faith, as possibilities.

If you don’t understand that language then all you will see is difficulties, and discouragement will dissuade you from making any meaningful effort. Those that understand look beyond the present, knowing that the visible is temporary and changeable. They don’t create drama out of their tragedies. They learn to take them in stride knowing that they are not being picked on by calamity. Challenges and disappointments go from house to house. The difference is in the way each person handles them.

God has given grace (not will give), freely, abundantly, and sufficient for each situation. Therefore, the least you must do is to do all you can and having done all, to stand upright and allow grace to make up for whatever is lacking. Bottom line, don’t offer less than your best if you expect the best. When you have optimized the grace that is available to you, stand back and let God amaze you.

I don’t know how much you have done in the past or how hard you are working. Now is the time to make the most of God’s ever abounding grease that makes for ease. Now is the time to apply it lavishly in whatever you are doing. Don’t limit yourself to only what you think you can. You will be shocked how far you can go when conditions demand it. Go ahead and stretch that grace, you’ll be shocked that it measures up no matter how far you pull. It fills to overflowing despite the size of your faith. Grace lifts beyond measure when we have learned to apply it without measure.

That is exactly what I have been doing and the results encourage me to cheer you on. I don’t believe that anything is too difficult for me. Even risks hold exciting appeal when you know that you are covered by grace. I have dared things unimaginable simply because I know that grace suffices for that thing, for that season. The results are astounding. No wonder Paul said, “I am what I am by the grace of God! I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” (1 Corinthians 5:10, Philippians 4:13). I encourage and challenge you to step up your faith, stretch your wings, and dare to fly because I believe that you can, if you dare. See you up there!

Glory!