Grace Notes
SCPC Monthly Pastoral Letter, Issue 2

Our Spiritual Heritage as an Endowment of God’s Grace to Us

Do you give much thought in your everyday life to the many spiritual and godly Christians who have lived before you?  Consider our Christian American Heritage as an illustration.  We have several Federal ‘Monday’ Holidays (MLK, Presidents, Columbus), all dedicated to men who felt the hand of God leading them to discover the new world, to win the revolutionary war, to preserve the union, or to win civil rights.  

George Washington had so often witnessed God's intervention during the Revolutionary war that on August 20, 1778, he wrote General and later Virginia Governor Thomas Nelson:  “The Hand of Providence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked, that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations.”

Washington’s words are strong in that God’s Sovereignty is stamped on us and everything around us, and we are to make use of it in our daily life.  Our obligation is to be good stewards of ALL that God has provided – especially the blessings of life, liberty and church provided by all our forbearers. 

In Joshua 23 & 24, we see Israel coming to terms as stewards and heirs of their spiritual blessing from God.  Joshua leads the Israelites to Shechem at the end of the 8 year conquest of Canaan right to the holy place where 700 years earlier God gave the covenant to Abraham as recorded in Genesis 12.  Those 2 million Israelites grasped their role as stewards of God’s covenant and that they were the ‘Seed’ of Abraham to whom the promise of land was given by God.  Wow!  What a thunderstruck of spiritual awakening they must have had!  They realized that godly people went before them, and that God faithfully kept His Word through the generations.  Standing there at Shechem they realized what a tremendous gift they were given to be godly people and to settle the land.

Is this not the charge to all of us?  We are to be godly stewards who trust in the Word and in God’s promises to use all the blessings of our church and country for the expansion of His kingdom.  Let us contemplate God’s majesty in endowing us with such a great wealth of talent, treasure, and time to be used for the glory of Christ.  This reflection should lead us to not squander what we have been given but to remember the covenant and our covenant obligations to serve Christ, serve His church, and serve the spiritually needy who need a Savior.

Pastor Dave Muntsinger