Grace-full

I wrote this a few years ago and happened to come across it, so I thought I would pass it on to you! :)

Grace is defined as good will, favor or disposition to show mercy. Daily God shows us grace in multiple ways. The way we spoke to that salesperson on the phone wasn't showing our mark as a Christian, though when we had to make that difficult phone call, we were treated with kindness by the one on the other end of the phone. We cut a corner at work that we knew better than to do hoping to get done more quickly, but somehow things still worked out smoothly and we didn't get fired and nobody got hurt. We confessed to our boss and instead of getting yelled at or let go, we were met with kindness and grace. We were in such a hurry to get there and broke the speed limit, yet we still made it safely and without a ticket.

It was more than enough for Him to send his son to die for us while we were still sinners, but out of His love and compassion for us, He chooses to take his grace even further than that, as exemplified in the above situations. Nobody deserves God's grace nor are we entitled to it, but out of His love, mercy and compassion, He freely gives it to us anyway.

In order to be more like Him, we must be willing to extend grace to others as well. This is contradictory to human nature, which would rather be unmerciful to others, especially when they hurt us. All you have to do is look around and see how sue-happy our culture has become, for example. Car accident? Sue them! Somebody says something to hurt, anger or offend you? Hire an attorney and haul them to court! Our culture is so quick to be critical, unmerciful and unforgiving, which is very contradictory to how we as Christians are called to treat others, whether they deserve to be treated with mercy or not.

My friend Lucille, a lady much older in years than myself and a minister, has told me more than once that, "The same grace it takes for me to remain married to the same man for 40+ years is the same grace it takes for you to have gotten through your divorce." She reminded me during a very broken time of my life that it is God's grace that gets us through anything! His grace never runs out nor does it ever run dry! However, as it says in Romans 6:1-2, this does not give us a license to continue in our sin either ("What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?….")

We are very good at accepting the grace of God and other people, so why is it so easy to condemn others before even knowing their situation? Human nature, of course. Even back in Bible times, the Pharisees were known as great followers and practicers of the Law, but they were notorious for condemning others, even Jesus himself when he healed on the Sabbath, for example. The same is still true today!

I have seen God's grace in my life unfold multiple times, and for this I am beyond grateful! For this very reason, I am quick to remember the grace He has shown me in my time of need and I am more than willing to quickly give it to others! I find that the more I show grace to others, the more grace I receive in turn, not only from other people but also from God!

My prayer is that not only would I become more and more abundant in giving others grace (including myself, which is often harder to do), but that you would as well. We all do and say stupid things at one time or another and face it, we have all done things we regret. Therefore, give others the same grace (or even more than) you give yourselves, and if you have difficulty in extending grace to yourself remember that you are only human too. Learn from your mistakes and go to great lengths not to repeat them. And be careful to allow others to do the same for themselves.