God’s love is a relentless pursuit, reaching into the humblest circumstances to find the lost. His grace requires no human effort; it is a divine gift that transforms the heart and sustains a life of faith. Our feature this week is an example of a journey defined by His grace.
Thabo Makhubu’s spiritual journey began in 2009 at Masundvwini Primary School, while he was in Grade IV. During this time, he lived under the guardianship of his late aunt. A woman of blessed memory, he shares, who had dedicated herself to raising him from the modest wages she earned in the textile industry.
It was within this humble setting that he experienced the reach of divine love, a love that remained indifferent to his lineage, his family background or his youth.
Makhubu shares that, instead, he found himself pursued and established upon the ‘path of the just’, which, according to Proverbs 4:18, shines ever brighter until the perfect day.
Makhubu’s transformation was precipitated by an invitation from his cousin to attend church. It was there that he encountered the Gospel, although he could not fully comprehend the internal shift occurring within him at the time. “I felt an ‘inward supply of grace’, that sponsored an entirely new existence.”
This change brought with it a fresh set of priorities and a newfound boldness, enabling Makhubu to publicly confess the Lordship of Christ to his peers.
He identifies the core of this experience as the finished work of Jesus Christ, who lived the life he could not live and died in his stead. Since that life-changing encounter, Makhubu has observed a gradual, spontaneous transformation and says God’s love redefined his life.
‘Without external pressure or rules, my tastes and preferences shifted; I found myself naturally giving up certain music genres, friendships and relationships,’’ he shares.
Makhubu argues that this life of consecration is not the result of human effort or outward reformation, but a miracle of grace.
To him, ‘salvation is a wonder sustained not by a collection of good deeds, but by faith from start to finish.’
Makhubu posits: ‘The Gospel does not begin with a ‘Big Do’, but rather a ‘Big Done’.’’ He believes the normal Christian life commences with a total surrender to the work of Calvary and is sustained by a daily ‘death to self’.
He echoes the sentiment of the Chinese Apostle, Watchman Nee, asserting that ‘the Christian life is based entirely on a principle of utter dependence upon the Lord.’
To those on the quest to godliness, Makhubu shares that the journey is not just a matter of self-improvement, but of being emptied by the Holy Spirit to be reformed in the image of Christ.
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