My Vision 

In the first staff meeting at Grace Community since accepting leadership responsibility I was asked, “What is my vision?” The response flowed effortlessly and with conviction. The desire burning within is, “That every man, woman, boy, and girl, regardless of age or culture, discover who God truly is, and that they come to a full understanding of just who they are in Him”. 

When we think about it, those words encompass everything that Christ wants to do both in us and thru us. To understand who God truly is will compel us to surrender at His feet and say “my Lord and my Master”. For we cannot see Him clearly and continue to be the same as we are. God’s love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, longsuffering, and supreme sacrifice shines brightly upon each of us and reveals the immeasurable deficiency of our righteousness and moral fiber. Yet, He looks upon us as a heartbroken Father yearning to reconcile you and me to Himself, and to establish an intimate connection that continually enjoins our hearts, minds, and souls with Him. To comprehend who God is, is to recognize that He loves you more than you love yourself and more than you can possibly love Him; for God is Love. 

Hebrews 11:6 says it this way, “…He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” This verse instructs us first to get to know God with a firm conviction that then leads us to diligently seek His will. To fully know God will reshape our entire being. 

Secondly, as our Father, God desires that we come to a realization of who we are in Him. Romans 8:16-17 tells us, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” As bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh, and spirit of His Spirit, (His heirs), I recognize that I cannot just receive His rewards as I seek Him, I must also experience the pain and discomfort of carrying His cross on a less than popular path of crucifying my flesh for His ultimate Glory. To accept His promises is also to accept His terms, for they are conditional. To fully understand who I am in Him, is to look in a mirror and deliberately (albeit figuratively) groom myself opposite of what society promotes and human nature craves. Being His heir and recipient of His Will, changes my will. 

On the surface this may seem undesirable, perhaps even punitive. But God assures us that it is not. In Matthew 7:11 he clarifies, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!” The Life that Christ offers was purchased with the greatest price, Himself. Would He really make such a perfect sacrifice for that which is less than perfect? We are nowhere near perfect, but His plan is. 

As we move forward together at Grace Community, I pray that we will truly know Christ more, and our relationship to Him will become so close that it is inseparable, no matter what obstacles, opportunities, temptations, or circumstances cross our paths. God is our perfect Father. We are His imperfect children. In Him we are made in His likeness, and created in His image, that we may become perfect. That is a plan worth living for. That is a vision worth sacrificing for. Grace Community is a house of God worth working for. 

David Marshburn
Sr. Pastor (Interim)
DMarshburn@GCAG1.org
Cell: 919-599-1442