The Sound of Grace...Continued from page 5

Tiberius Rata

A lot of us long for the “good ol’ days.”  I too would have loved to live in Mayberry.  To get a haircut at Floyd’s barbershop, to eat one of Aunt Bee’s dinners, to spend some time with Andy the sheriff and his sidekick Barney Fife, and to slap Otis around and tell him to get a life and quit getting drunk.  But we are not asked to live yesterday, we are asked to live godly lives TODAY, and not in Mayberry, but in our towns and villages. 

And we are not just to live holy lives in an unholy world, but we are to “wait for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”  Our waiting is not to be a passive one, but an active one, a time when we do good to those around us and in this way they will be able to experience the love of God and his wonderful grace. Verse 15 says that we are to be “eager to do what is good.”  I like the NASB here, which says that grace teaches us to be zealous for good deeds.  The apostle Paul believes that this is so important that three times in his letter he mentions the fact that Christians need to be eager to do good works.  Our wait for Christ’s second coming cannot be a passive one, but needs to be an active one.  We have to get rid of the “What’s in it for me” mentality and ask ourselves, “What can I do to help the ones who are less fortunate than me.” 

In Matthew 25 Jesus said: "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in

, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”