I often picture God’s grace as a multifaceted jewel, reflecting God’s Light from different angles, each in a different way from the vantage point of a person’s unique life and circumstance. Just think of all the facets, all the rays of light, for all of us human beings! It may shine amethyst in a person’s sorrow, golden in moments of delight, crimson for someone in an act of self-giving, or azure in a time of yearning for hope.

Somehow I imagine this faceted image whenever I read 1 Peter 4:10 – “Like good stewards of the manifold [multifaceted] grace of God, serve one another with whatever gifts each of you has received.”

Ah, there it is: community, caring for others, stewardship.

“Stewardship is, therefore, an expression and means of the manifold grace of God!” says Bishop Kenneth Carder.1 “This is truly astounding! God is the Giver! God is the Gift [in Jesus Christ]! And God empowers us to be givers and gifts to others! Being ‘a good steward of the manifold grace of God’ is our calling as human beings, and God’s grace enables us to fulfill that calling.”

Bishop Carder continues, “Living in response to grace is to see everything as a generous gift from God and treating all resources – money, abilities, time, relationships, education, life and the world itself – as a sacred trust to be humbly and gratefully received and generously used in accordance with God’s good purposes.”

So receiving God’s grace, Gold’s love and transforming presence is intimately linked to our care for and with others and their care for us – all empowered, all made beautiful, by the Light, the grace, of God.

Your partner in ministry,

Betsy Schwarzentraub

1 – Kenneth L. Carder, Living for Giving: A Wesleyan View of Stewardship

See also: Beauty, Grace and Gratitude