Walter: When Faith Meets Grace
I used to think evangelizing was strictly making sure the gospel was transferred from one heart to another. Until I met a quiet little boy named, Walter….
This precious ten year old sat at our ministry site anxiously waiting for our arrival. He was instructed by the pastor to give us instruction for ministry for the day. I soon learned “He” was our ministry for the rest of the month! You see we went into this site being blessed to serve but praying for an encounter with Jesus. Then one day we were graced by His presence through the laughter of a little boy named Walter.
He was a quiet little boy, mostly having to do with the language barrier, but also because tragedy and turmoil had already been a huge part of His short life. You see Walter wasn’t only there to give us instruction he was also there to work to support his seven siblings. His dad died in a tragic altercation last year. The woman he was commuting adultery with he was also abusing. The mistresses brother came to kill, steal, and destroy due to his own pain. Walter witnessed his father’s death and is now left to be an adult due to the hardship imposed upon his family.
My first instinct was to share Christ. He needed a Father. He needed hope. He needed comfort, right? In that moment I realized he needed Jesus but in salvation, IN LOVE. Then it hit me this is where faith meets grace. We can’t bring salvation without Jesus and without love what good is salvation because that is the ultimate example of love. We can give a gift of faith by loving this little boy by the grace in which we are saved!! God reminded me, “If I speak in tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:1-3. Every good gift is from above, and Walter is an amazing gift from God to this world. My prayer for Walter is that He walk in His Abba Fathers footsteps.
I was given this wonderful example of grace by a pastor: He said, “It’s kind of like when a child ask for money from their parents to buy them a gift.” You see Jesus is the gift and everything we give is only an offspring of His first blessing to us.
So I challenge you are you walking with faith that Jesus is gonna grace exactly what he wants to be done? You know I could walk away feeling like we didn’t share Christ bc we didn’t witness salvation or I can trust that God gracious and faithful to complete His good work in which He allowed us to be apart of! 😀
