Recently, God has convicted me of not having enough grace towards the ones that I love. This includes my husband, especially. When I married him, I knew that we had completely polar opposite personalities. Nathaniel is a “fly by the seat of your pants” kinda guy. I am the “this must be organized and planned out to a T” kinda girl. You can already see where I’m going with this.
I know I have a long way to go, but it is important for me to start extending grace to those who may not think exactly like me. Although my head tells me one thing about their behaviors, my heart is convicted and telling me another.
When I think about God’s grace, so many examples come to my mind. All you have to do is open your bible to see an overflowing of Gods grace. We see verses constantly elaborating on how important grace was to God and how He gladly extends it to us. Without it, we wouldn’t stand a chance. How thankful I am to have a LOVING God, that constantly gives me another try – because I am a sinner, and I never deserve the kind of love that God offers to me.
My prayer today is for those who are struggling with extending and/or accepting grace. For me, that is sometimes both! Sometimes it’s a struggle, especially when the dishes aren’t put away, or the floor isn’t swept. Maybe it’s a friend I’ve been pouring into and trying to counsel, yet they keep running back to the one thing that’s harming them. Maybe it’s self worth – feeling like you aren’t good enough for anything or anyone, because you continue to mess up and make mistakes that you’re ashamed of.
God does not say,
“Well, they’re being lazy, so that does not deserve grace!”
“They’re asking for it, because they just don’t listen,” or,
“They’re just plain rude, and they don’t treat me very nicely!”
Do any of these sound familiar? They sure do to me! Each one of these thoughts have crossed my mind. That is why I need God’s grace, in order to extend it to others! God is doing a work in them, in His own way, that we don’t even know about! That is for Him to worry about, and Him alone.
Ephesians 2:8 – For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God
Grace is a gift from God. He’s just waiting for us to reach out and take it into our hearts. It isn’t something that must be bought or earned. Jesus already covered it through His precious gift of the cross.
I want you to know that not only is grace a gift, it is a segue into so many other precious elements of life. Look at what Roman’s tell us in Chapter 5 : Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. …
So, Faith >> Peace >> Grace >> Endurance >> Character >> Hope >> LOVE.
Our God is loving, and He calls us to be just as loving and to extend grace to those around us, just as He has done for us. It’s not always easy, but it’s worth it. For your peace of mind, and for the benefit of those around you. Let them see you, in me.
John 17:23 – I in them and you in me–so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.