How the Church Taught Me God’s Varied Grace after My Husband’s Bike Wreck
I was in Kmart, of all places, shopping for school supplies on behalf of a ministry where I volunteered. This particular Kmart was notorious for poor cell service, so I was surprised when my phone rang. It was my son. “Dad wrecked his bicycle,” he told me. “The ambulance is on its way to the hospital.” Needless to say, I left my cart of pencils, folders, crayons, and hurried to the emergency room. I contacted our pastor on the way.
I reached the hospital before the ambulance. Within minutes my son, my dear friend and her husband, and my pastor were there. They stood with me at the ambulance entrance as the first responders wheeled my husband into the hospital.
After what seemed an interminably long time, it was determined that my husband had a broken collarbone and a cracked hip, both on the same side. He needed to be off his hip for eight weeks, but crutches were out of the question due to the collarbone fracture. We left the hospital rather dazed, with prescriptions for a wheelchair, a hospital bed, and various pain relievers.
It could have been worse—much worse! His helmet was broken in four places. But I tried not to think about that.
Immediately our church began bringing us meals. Two of my husband’s friends, who had been riding with him when he went down, built a temporary wheelchair ramp at our back door. The hospital bed was uncomfortable, understandably, so another friend from church brought over her recliner for my husband to sleep in. Another friend happened to have an electric wheelchair (to this day, I don’t know how or why) which we borrowed and kept at the office. This allowed my husband to be able to go to work, and actually do his job without requiring much assistance. A man at our church was employed at a plant that manufactured paper plates, the nice, heavy-duty ones. He brought us a huge case of them—so doing dishes became one less thing the boys and I had to worry about. A nurse friend brought some personal hygiene items. And on and on it went.
I have no doubt we would have made it through those eight weeks that my husband was in the wheelchair. But for us to get through it as well fed and well provided for, took a village. Or, in this case, God’s church.
In 1 Peter 4, Peter encourages his readers to live in light of coming suffering and final judgment. Love is to be the identifying mark of their lives, love that shows itself in earnestness and hospitality and service to one another. As each has a gift, they are to use it to “serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Pet. 4:10). This, Peter asserts, is what will set true believers apart from the lawless idolatry and debauchery of the world around them. Not only that but in their service, they are instruments of God’s grace in its varied forms.
Every time I think of those days and weeks after my husband’s wreck, I think of how our friends loved us in earnestness and hospitality and service. I thank God for the varied grace we received—meals, ramps, paper plates, and electric wheelchairs. This outpouring of help reminded me of how much we need each other and how beautiful it is when we serve one another in open, generous hospitality.
In 1 Peter 4:10, Peter is careful to remind believers that “each has received a gift.” Most of the friends that helped us weren’t themselves pastors or teachers or prophets. And yet they were, by the providence of God, uniquely gifted, and it was these gifts they extended to us. So often a premium is placed on the more visible gifts of the church: teaching and preaching for example. In doing so we tend to despise the simple, ordinary ways we may serve one another. Some of us cook meals. Some of us build wheelchair ramps. Some of us offer their presence. None of these friends hoarded or hid their gifts but blessed us with their generous, open hospitality.
Peter encourages us to use these gifts “to serve one another.” It is tempting to see our gifts as ours, something to be leveraged for influence or platform. Lugging your recliner across town doesn’t exactly build your brand. True service requires humility and self-denial. Consider Jesus. He did not come to be served but to serve, and in so doing give up his life. So too are we. I love how 2 Corinthians 8:2 describes the Corinthians as having a “wealth of generosity.” It was a generosity that in its abundance of joy and self-denial mirrors that of Jesus. It was not easy or fun or even convenient, but our friends gave of their time and resources—they showed us Jesus.
As we serve others in the unique way God has gifted us, we are “good stewards of God’s varied grace.” Thus, are messengers, conduits, ministers of his grace. Think on it: the Lord has chosen to use people to accomplish his purposes.
I was especially struck by this condescension when I was recently reading John 2, the record of Jesus’s first miraculous sign (turning of the water into wine). Faced with the dilemma of no wine, Jesus instructed the servants to fill the water jars and then draw some out, resulting in the miracle of water that became wine. Certainly the Creator and Sustainer of the universe could have achieved this miracle in any way he chose. And he chose to extend his varied grace through the willing cooperation of his servants. This is our privilege as well! He has gifted us to serve, and in serving we steward his goodness to others.
As we do so, we have as our aim that “in everything God may be glorified.” Can a box of paper plates bring glory to God? As one who made use of every single paper plate in that box in the days and weeks after my husband’s wreck, I say yes, yes indeed!
God is glorified in the love the saints have for one another, love that shows itself in varied service. Over and over the Bible emphasizes the unity and harmony of the church. Strive together, side by side, for the sake of the gospel, Paul instructs, as evidence of a clear sign of your salvation. Be of one mind and one heart, he continues. This is how others will know you belong to me, Jesus teaches, by your love for one another. Weep together, rejoice together, encourage one another daily. And serve one another in selfless, joyous generosity. This brings glory to God.
My husband and I have experienced the outpouring of God’s varied grace in other, countless ways in the years since--in big events like our sons’ weddings and my father-in-law’s funeral, but also in small, seemingly unremarkable acts like a well-timed text or milkshake left on the front porch. Generosity, hospitality, service, these are important and critical gifts in the life of the church and in the proclamation of the kingdom. We thank God for the church, friends who exercise these gifts with openhanded kindness as stewards of the varied grace of the Lord.
Lisa Spence lives in Auburn, Alabama where she teaches a ladies’ Bible study at her church and volunteers as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for children in foster care in her area. She and her husband Randy have four sons, three wonderful daughters-in-law, and one very old dog, Darcy. Read more of Lisa’s writing at lisaspence.substack.com and connect with her on Instagram at @lisafspence.