Making a Difference

by admin

Gina Caswell Kelly

Grace. Just what is grace? I would say that today, grace is something we see little of towards each other. And the less we see toward each other, the more we see from God.

Grace is defined as “courteous good will.” It is also defined as “simple elegance, refinement of movement.” Both of these are great definitions. And I can use both of them today.

The interesting thing about the definition of grace is when I looked it up, there were some choices. I could choose the “All” definition, or I could choose the “Christian” definition. The Christian definition is “the free and unmerited favor of God.” Now that is the definition I really like.

As Christians, we see God’s grace on a daily basis. We are so far from being what we ought to be. We do things every day that we shouldn’t. Or, often we don’t do those things that we should do. I like to say that many times, it is not the sins of commission that are dragging us down. It is the sins of omission, or the things we don’t do, that weigh us down. Nevertheless (my favorite Bible word!), we see God’s grace every single day.

He forgives us. He offers us another chance. He keeps on loving us. None of those things do we deserve. We have done nothing to deserve forgiveness, another chance, or the Father’s love. He gives it to us anyway. Grace. Unmerited favor.

What about with each other? We don’t show each other much grace these days. I firmly believe that social media has made absolute heathens out of us! On social media, we can rant and rave and call people out, all from the safety of our own rooms. We say hateful, spiteful things to those who don’t believe as we do, especially politically. We see our “leaders” doing this, and we just follow suit. We have come to expect the grace of God, without even giving it a thought, yet we are not willing to show the least amount to others. This is where “courteous good will” comes in. We have to show grace to others.

We are forgiven, and we are called to forgive. We are shown grace, and we are called to show grace. We are given another chance, and we are called to give others another chance. What if God started treating us like we treat other people? Oh my goodness! That is not something we even want to think about.

How about that third definition? The simple elegance and refinement of movement. When we see other people acting as God has called them to and behaving toward each other in a manner that reflects God’s love for us, we do have an elegance about us. We have that refinement of movement. There is a lady that goes to my church that always makes me think of grace. She is in her 90s now. She still comes to church regularly. She helps with so many things. I have known her since I was a child. When I look at her, her face is wrinkled with time. Lots of times she looks a little tired. But when I see her, I see grace. She walks with grace. She shows the world grace. She treats everyone with love and caring. She is absolutely grace personified. She is what I want to look like when I am 90. Or today.

How about you? Are you showing grace to others? Are you trying to see things from their perspective? Or are you calling out the sins in others, while carefully holding on to your own sins? How about we start showing grace to the world. How about we truly do start looking at the world with love and compassion, the way the Savior looks at us.

As we start to show grace to others, they will pass it on, and those will pass it on and on and on it goes and then we have a changed world! And don’t you think we need a change?

Show grace to the world the same way the Father shows grace to you. It will make a difference.

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