A Noble Saint

Okay, I know I've not written in almost two months. Let's just say that it's just where life is right now. Classes are going well, but they are incredibly busy; especially for a Type-A academic personality as myself. But anyhow, I want to share this reflection on a person from my church.

You see, not too long ago, I was reminded of the wonderful grace that God gives us through those noble saints whose personal witness of the presence of God in their own lives is like a gentle reminder for the rest of us. Their witness is in and of itself a proclamation of the reality of God. But it is also much more. It is a living witness to the living God who comes to us and seeks us out. His revelation through Christ is reinforced and reformed through their grace-born fidelity to our Lord. Reinforced in that their words, their actions, and their spirit, though all imperfect, carry within the essence of God (He is truth and love, not as artificial categories, but as the very definitions and realities of those words themselves), and they allow us to experience them afresh, being built up and built together. Reformed in that no one experience, whether it be the same place, same time of day, same day of the week, with the same people, is ever the same, but in that it is the same revealer, that which is being revealed (the revealer Himself), is being expressed in a new and yet familiar manner; one that builds up and builds together.

All of this is to say that when Betsy Noble, a wonderful, older saint in our congregation came over to have lunch and catch up with my wife, she brought with her that sweet aroma of Christ that bears witness to her desire to witness to him in thought, word, and deed. Not as some theological construct (as I am guilty of “writing” above) mind you, but as her own personal way of living out her faith, her way of being a living revelation of God’s love in Jesus Christ. This noble saint was a real blessing to us. Kind words that sought to encourage, build up, and empower us to continue our own faithfulness as living witnesses were her primary ministrations to us. And yet, she also incidentally found a way to add to her kindness and blessedness by asking to take care of something so mundane as getting my bible recovered, and paying for it. What does this mean? What should it mean? Simply put, God’s grace is from God, something only He can give, and when He does, it is a sharing of Himself. When His saints give grace, they give from what God has given them, and in a sense, they are sharing from themselves.
I write this not because I feel the need to come up with some artificial explanation, or some “impressive” theological explanation (though I do want to understand who God is, and how I can appropriate His presence in my life). Really, I write this story and these thoughts because I want Betsy Noble, a noble saint, to be known by you so that you, too, may be encouraged to live out Christ faithfully as she herself strives to every day. And I don’t want to forget, either.