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“Extending God's Grace to Others is What We Do”
Categories: Shepherd's CornerAs each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: (I Peter 4:10)
When asked “what is grace,” the word is most often defined as “unmerited favor.” Yet, grace involves so much more. It empowers us to do the will of God, to forgive when it’s hard, to do what would be impossible on our own; from walking in wisdom to building businesses to loving the unlovely.
The grace of God is extended to us in many forms: in salvation, in our spiritual and natural gifts, in our accomplishments, and in our experiences. As we’re called to freely give because we freely received (Matthew 10:8), we are called to both receive grace and extend it to others.
How do we do this? One way is to be like Christ in His sacrificial love. Let’s consider what our Lord gave up (Philippians 2:7-8). He gave up the most for the sake of the least. If Jesus extended that kind of selfless love to us, we’re obliged to extend it to others.
Every gift of time, every act of service, every favor we do; these are reflections of the sacrificial love and grace of our Lord. By deliberately losing something (time, energy, focus, the chance of to do something else) so that others may gain, we extend His grace.
I say this, “if we want to be like Christ, we need to look for ways we can be like Him. Christ, our Lord, gave up power, glory, and position because that is what He had. What do you have? Time? Money? Opportunity? Talent? Imitate our Lord by sacrificing that for others, and you will be a good steward of the grace of God.
Showing grace to others is about showing kindness even when they don’t deserve it. God has shown us much grace. We, in turn, are asked to show grace to each other. Amen!
