Trace the Grace!

Saint Paul makes an arresting statement in a letter to his young trainee, Timothy, an insight into the apostle’s heart and understanding of the ways of God. The aging apostle wrote, "The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly." (1 Timothy 1:14) Paul wrote after decades of ministry. He knew beatings which left him all but lifeless. He knew shipwrecks which caused all others aboard the boat to despair. Imprisonments and certain death at the hands of the enemies of the Gospel were overlooked. The grace of God moved to the bright lights of center stage.

The ninth generation of James Hudson Taylor’s decendents now minister in China, more than 150 years after the missionary patriarch arrived in the land to which he was called. That is amazing! Nine generations! But, that is recent history for the Taylor clan. In 1776 England was awakening from decades of decadence as George Whitefield, John and Charles Wesley preached wherever and whenever an opportunity presented itself. James Taylor, Hudson’s great-grandfather, was the life of the party a genuine scoffer who mocked the Methodist way and openly scorned whenever the message of grace was presented.

On the day of his marriage to Betty Johnson, James Taylor’s beautiful bride and dance partner, the bells announcing the time of the ceremony rang out, but the bridegroom was nowhere to be found. The grace of God was being poured out on him in the family barn. Concern for his soul overwhelmed him as the Holy Spirit convicted him of sin and taught James of his need of Jesus. Taylor was so caught up in the presence of the Spirit that he almost missed his wedding!

On their wedding night James Taylor informed Betty that he had been born again, opened a Bible and convened the newlywed’s first family altar! She resisted, for weeks! Betty wanted to continue dancing and partying. She missed the fun loving man she thought she had married. One night James lifted his bride of a few weeks and carried her to their bedroom. Placing her on a chair, James knelt before Betty and began to passionately pray that God would save her. The very next day Betty joined James in the new birth and became his life-long partner in prayer and Bible study. The Taylors became the leaders of Methodist classes in their community and patriarchs to those who founded a modern missionary movement.

One can trace the grace of God poured out in China all the way back to a plain Englishman’s wedding day in a small English village in 1776. The great-grandson, the one about whom many biographies have been written, may receive undue attention. The grace of God can be traced to a time and person who lived nearly 100 years before. From men’s viewpoint, James Taylor was anything but an "A List" candidate for salvation, but the grace of God was poured out on him as surely as on the Apostle Paul.

The Taylor story is amazing! But, each one who has known the conviction of the Holy Spirit and has been born of the Spirit can trace the grace of God all the way back to Noah and Abraham! The continuous chain of undeserved acceptance at God’s initiative is astounding! Trace the grace! Ah, sweet wonder . . . amazing marvel . . . the grace of God poured out in abundance.