Stories of Grace, Hope, and Love
Our lives cannot be summed up in one word. Being a Christian isn't about a label--any more than being a student or professor or a son or a daughter, etc.--is. Being a Christian is about being in a relationship with God. It's about knowing that God wants to hear the stories of our lives. More importantly, it's about sharing with others the story about how God has brought grace, hope, and love to a life that desperately did not need to be summed up in one word. Acts 16 speaks of a man whose life was about to be summed up in one word: death. The three themes of grace, hope, and love are interwoven in such a way that only God could be credited with bringing new life to this man.
Acts 16:22-34 tells the story of a jailer who has been charged with guarding Paul and Silas. They had been taken in to custody because they had driven an evil spirit out of a woman who had been following them around the town. Now that the spirit was gone, her captors were no longer able to make money off of her. Needless to say, they were not very happy.
Verse 23 says that the jailer was commanded to guard Paul and Silas very carefully. Obviously, a jailer's, primary mission is to keep the prisoners in the prison. The jailer was so serious about the mission that he took Paul and Silas and put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. And then it happened. Verse 26 recounts," Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone's chains came loose." If ever the jailer was in need of grace, hope, and love, this was the time. But before we consider his needs, let's back up a bit to consider Paul and Silas' response to being jailed.
While they weren't protected from the circumstance of jail, their relationship with God motivated them to pray and to sing hymns to God. Here were two wrongfully imprisoned men singing and praying instead of yelling and complaining. Their relationship with God was more important than any other circumstance in their lives. God's grace was shown through them and motivated them to care for the jailer. How so? They stayed put when the walls fell down. The jailer was preparing to take his own life when Paul called out to him, "Do not harm yourself. We are all here!" Despite the jailer's role in wrongfully imprisoning two men, his life was spared by the grace extended to him. He didn't get what he deserved which was to succumb to death for failing to do his job.
Hope was also to extended to the jailer. Hope is not wishful thinking. For the Christian, hope is rooted in a "confident expectation" that God will fulfill His promises. It is a firm assurance regarding things that are unclear and unknown. Romans 8:24-25 tells us, "For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." Hope produces joy and peace in believers through the power of God's presence. Hope doesn't necessarily change our circumstances, but it can change our attitude. It's not a natural reaction to pray and sing when one is locked up. Paul and Silas' hope was not wishful thinking: It was rooted in a confident expectation that God would show up. Perhaps the jailer's confident expectation was that the shackles and inner cell would hold his prisoners, which turned into wishful thinking that maybe they hadn't fled. Yet, he is shown hope through the men's decision to extend the hope they had that God would rescue them to the jailer whose immediate response to such a display of grace and hope was "What must I do to be saved?"
Love was also at work in the jailer's life. For the Christian, loving others is about putting the needs of others before one's own. Paul and Silas could have left the jail and went on a rampage about injustice. They could have retaliated against the jailer. They had a lot of choices, but they choose to reflect God's love. They choose not to keep a record of wrong. They choose not to delight in evil. Certainly, the jailer didn't expect to be loved by those he had imprisoned. He hadn't exactly extended love to them. Yet, Paul's cry to him, "Do not harm yourself. We are all here" is an excellent example of loving a person just the way they are. Paul and Silas didn't keep a record of the jailer's wrong nor did they dishonor the jailer in any way. My favorite part of the story is the jailer's treatment of Paul and Silas after they called out to him not to harm himself:
"The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' They replied, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved-you and your household.' Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God-he and his whole household."
The jailer's response was one of love for Paul and Silas. This is what happens when one is saved: an infusion of a kind of love that goes against the world's thinking. This is what can happen when grace, hope, and love is extended to those in need--which is each and every one of us. My confident expectation for each of us is that 2011 will be a year of many stories of grace, hope, and love in action!
With defiant joy!
Susan
