Grace of God

Grace

I have been studying how Jesus lived for many years.  I so want to be like Him, see like Him, serve like Him, but I always fall short.  I think that’s okay as long as I keep trying and seek His grace.

            I have specifically studied how Jesus would greet people and how He invited them into His life.  As a disciple, I  am encouraged to be an imitator of God.  That sometimes doesn’t feel like encouragement, but instead, a bar so high I can never reach it. So, these are the times I seek God and ask, “ How can I ever be all you intended me to be?”

            Gently He nudges, “ I will give you grace, my dear child.”  Grace undeserved but given to me for just trying to be like Him.  He gave that same grace to the women at the well when He told her all the things she had done.  She knew she was forgiven, didn't ask, just knew.  That was His first miracle in Galilee after turning water to wine in Cana.  Jesus invited her to be all that she could be now.  She accepted his grace and told others in the village.

 The second miracle was when the royal official begged Jesus to come with him and heal his son.  Jesus answered, “You may go.  Your son will live.” The official took Jesus at his word and departed.  While the official was returning home, his servant met him on the road to tell him the news that his son was living.

The third miracle He performed in Galilee was to tell the man, who had been crippled almost forty years, “Pick up his mat and walk.”  Just do it.  The man accepted his greeting and walked. He didn’t even know who Jesus was.  He was healed by the grace of Jesus.  The crippled man did nothing.  In fact, he saw Jesus later and then knew who had created the opportunity for him to be healed.

Each time I read these scriptures in John, I am amazed at how grace is the greeting, the vessel, and the end result.   Jesus’ grace flooded over sin, sickness, and honored obedience. 

May the grace of God be with you.  (1 Corinthians 16:23). 

Forgiveness-being a part of something bigger than I.

Forgiveness

            Can you remember a time when someone forgave you?  Perhaps they dismissed your angry outburst, or they understood when you borrowed something and it was broken.  They asked no payment and forgave you. That was living grace. Learning to forgive is for the strong, not the weak.  It is easier to hold on to resentment, a wrongdoing, or grudges.  It takes a powerful inner strength to genuinely forgive a spouses’ unfaithfulness, a mother’s abuse, a sister’s betrayal, a brother’s lie, or a friend’s deception.

            Webster defines forgiveness as, “ the attitude of someone that is willing to forgive other people”. That helps; it is an attitude.  Does it require actions?  I can talk myself into the fact that my attitude is right.  My son did not have the right to reject me.  It is his fault, not mine.  My husband doesn’t listen and he purposely ignores me.  That’s his fault, not mine.  They have the attitude problem, not me.  See what I am saying?  Attitude is too nebulous for we human beings to define or act upon.

            Instead, remember what Teilhard de Chardin said, “ We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.  We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” His perspective makes it so much easier to forgive.  Consider the irrepressible spirit within each one of us.  It cannot be blocked because we have a built in longing for love and peace. So, when you get slapped, Jesus advocates turning the other cheek. Why?  We have a spiritual presence that helps these heavy weights of hurt and despair create a being more in the image of Christ.  As we forgive, our spirit grows in the love that Christ has put within each of us.  Granted forgiveness may start small with uttered words to our Father.  Little by little the love of Christ inroads our selfish self, our bruised ego, and our broken heart.  This slow erosion process reaps forgiveness in our soul and loosens the other person to discover more of his/her spirit of love.  Who would think that our conscious act of forgiving could bring so many benefits to us and shape another soul?   Ephesians 1:7:  “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.”