Grace to Grow and Change for God’s Glory

The way we grew up influences us more than we probably like to admit. We approve somethings, with little thought, because we have our entire lives. We disapprove of other things, with no evaluation, because we have our whole lives. Other influences have shaped what we are afraid of, what we find comfort in, how we gauge success and failure.

For example, my father was very safety conscious about equipment and animals. I suppose his concerns came from events growing up on a farm. I learned not to turn my eye from a nearby animal for fear it could not be trusted, and my life would be in jeopardy. Anything that had an engine was certainly out to get me. When I was about 12, my dad decided to teach me how to mow the yard with a riding mower, instead of the push mower. Sadly, I was so afraid I would flip the mower and have my limbs cut off that this first lesson did not go well.

Fear can freeze us. Our past can haunt us. Our failure can encourage us to quit, to trust in self, develop extreme goals, holdback from trying again, and a whole host of self-preserving ambitions. We never want to experience our weakness again, but God’s grace to grow and change us for His glory is available to us today.

Paul wrote 2 Timothy shortly before being executed. He writes to challenge and encourage the pastor Timothy to be faithful and keep doing the work of the ministry. At the end of the letter, Paul writes very personally, perhaps knowing the end is near. He requests, “Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11b). Who is Mark, he must be very important if he is part of a final request? How can this challenge and encourage us?

In Acts 12, we have the account of the church praying for Peter, who has imprisoned for preaching the gospel. We remember how God miraculously delivered Peter. After being freed, Peter goes to the “house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying” (Acts 12:12). The church initially ignored Peter at the door because it couldn’t be him, after all, Peter was in prison. God’s work in the early church and the miracles that went with it were happening in Mark’s house! Rightly so, Mark wanted to be a part of it and joined Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey (Acts 12:25).

Mark began serving the Lord alongside Paul and Silas, “When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John (Mark is Latin & John is Hebrew) to assist them” (Acts 13:5). We don’t know all of the details of what happened on their mission’s trip, but Mark went home early, “Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem (Acts 13:13). 

In Acts 15, Paul and Barnabas get ready to go on a second missionary trip. Barnabas wants to take Mark again, but Paul thinks this is a terrible idea since mark deserted them on their first trip, “But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work” (Acts 15:38). The disagreement was so strong that Paul went on his trip with Silas while Barnabas went on his journey with Mark. Mark’s failure on the first trip was severe, and the consequences were undeniable, but God, by His grace, grew and changed Mark.

At the end of his life, Paul wanted Mark because he was valuable for the ministry (2 Timothy 4:11). Read Paul’s other references to Mark; by God’s grace, Mark became a faithful servant. “Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions—if he comes to you, welcome him)” (Colossians 4:10). Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, 24and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers” (Philemon 23). Mark also served with Peter, “She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son (I Peter 5:13).

Last week we were doing a project at church, and I had to back the tractor off of the trailer. Honestly, that circumstance still makes me fearful. My past fear and failures flooded my thoughts as I sat in the chair, started the tractor, and carefully backed it down the ramps. In a small way, my tractor fears are no different than the other tugs of my heart that prevent me from faithfully serving God and submitting to Him today. Thankfully, by the grace of God, our past failures do not determine our present obedience. 

By grace, God grew Mark. He must have learned humility. Mark must have learned repentance, proved through his changed life. He must have learned to daily walk with God and depend upon Him because God’s final testimony of Mark’s life is “useful to me for the ministry.” What is your past? More importantly, what is your present? Take heart, God’s grace to grow and change us for His glory is available to us today.