16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.
Grace, like forgiveness, is hard-earned when it comes to people. It’s hard to give and receive. Why is that? I heard Russell Brand say in an interview a couple months ago that (and I’m paraphrasing here) that we care about our successes, yeah they’re good, but we care more about other people’s failures. We are happier when other people fail than in our own success. At first I thought, “no, that’s not right.” But then it settled in my mind and it felt like when I failed, publicly, other people were quick to turn away from me instead of supporting me. They only supported me in the after, when I started digging back out. But the fall? That was a lonely fall.
Maybe you’ve experienced something like this before and how isolating it can feel. Even now the past comes back to haunt me, people who didn’t know me then or even the situation surrounding my heartache and they are quick to judge and turn away. That rejection HURTS. I’m no different than the person you were talking to before and now something you know nothing about, changes your perspective of me? Yeah, maybe I didn’t know you either. But to GIVE grace to these people when they can’t give me grace? God, help me with that. Yes, generally people are good. They are good and even great when a catastrophe happens. They rally together and support one another. I’m not cynical in that regard, so please don’t come at me that I think humanity is past the point of help. I just think they have a hard time offering grace but are quick to receive it. Who knows, maybe I’m in my feelings today.
If we don’t offer grace to people who might not even deserve it, how can we expect God to do the same for us? We aren’t deserving of His grace and yet He gives it time and time again with NO conditions. That’s how good God is. We are to be His hands and feet. And that includes giving grace to everyone. It’s hard to give grace to people that we feel don’t deserve it, but can you imagine if God was like, “Ehh, I’m not sure (insert your name here) deserves grace after he/she (insert what you’ve done here). But He gives it anyway! How beautiful is that? I encourage you today to give someone grace even though you feel they don’t deserve it. Someone who cuts in the carpool line, that fellow employee that you don’t get along with, etc. You already have someone in mind that you desperately DO NOT WANT TO GIVE GRACE, and yet YOU SHOULD. Pray about it, let God soften your heart. Be His hands and feet and show them God’s love through you.
I’m doing this with you today.
Peace, love, and ferns,
SD
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