What does it mean to be strong in grace? I wondered. I looked at 2 Timothy 2, which begins with Paul's admonition to Timothy to 'be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.' It occurred to me that many of the Epistles mentioned something of grace and peace in their opening greetings. What does it mean to have grace multiplied to you? I began to ask myself. Verse 2 says, 'Grace and peace be multiplied to you.' I first began thinking about this topic several years ago, while memorizing the first few verses of 2 Peter.

Unfortunately, this story is repeated often, not only on the mission field, but also in the lives of individual Christians and their churches.Īs this Easter season approaches, I believe all of us need to take a fresh look at God's grace and how to grow strong in the grace that comes from the Cross. The answer, I believe, is that those families failed to live according to God's grace. What happened? Why did people who loved the Lord and wanted to make Him known make choices that led to such heartache?

The closing created a domino effect that closed other mission centers and, tragically, led to the folding of the mission. Within two years the conflict had become so serious the mission center closed down. She explained that ministry with the children was great, but living on the mission compound was awful due to infighting between the missionary families. 'That must have been a wonderful experience,' I said. She told me that after finishing college, she'd worked two years with a small mission in Africa, where she taught school for the children of missionary families.

When one of our American missionary women first arrived in Eastern Europe many years ago, I asked about her previous experience. One of the most frequent reasons missionaries return home is due to interpersonal conflicts.

What does grace mean