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Grace... The Biggest Challenge?
Submitted by evie on Thu, 11/17/2005 - 6:56pm.
Grandparent's Corner | Inspirational | Self | Spiritual
Grace for me is the most difficult of all Christian values. It is the simplest yet most confusing. It requires total humble, selfless faith and commitment to what Christ by example showed us as the way to live with his other children.
Grace calls me to put my money where my mouth is – asks that I put my theories and the sentiment of the “touching stories” into practice every moment of every day. It calls me to love as God commands without excuse, because God tells me to - not because I can comprehend it. It beckons us to love each other in the same complete and powerful way – the one that is beyond our understanding – the way God loves us.
Grace expects me to purge myself of the frustration I feel when I see someone experiencing pain and misery because of past choices which they seem to repeat over and over. It calls me to forget that history and be in the present. It calls me to give everyone not just another chance, but a clean slate.
Reason warns us that we have to have boundaries to protect ourselves, grace whispers that we should leave the judgments to God. Herein lies the quandary – the faith that is required to turn all judgments to God frees me of difficult decisions and brings joy and the rewards of righteous living, but I want to keep myself in control, keep myself safe, direct my own destiny. Grace is for the long term, reason for the short. Grace is what I want to have in heaven; reason is what I feel I need to survive in this world. I can't seem to let myself go through that thin curtain of doubt and trust and drop it all in God's hands.
With little direction from the Spirit we can certainly make some good decisions – however it seems so much easier to offer help in the form of a check to those with whom we have no background - an anonymous person in need without the complication of knowing their shortcomings and mistakes. We have few expectations because we will never know the outcome. Certainly that is an honorable act and does much good.
How much more difficult it is to offer grace to those in our family and close circle of friends who have caused us pain and disappointment over and over. If we listen for the spirit’s direction, we may be led to offer grace to those who need it specifically from us. We might find ourselves having to wipe that slate clean.
I believe in a little corner of my soul I have grace or at least the capacity for grace, but I don’t know how to live giving grace. I am grateful for the grace that Christ has to given me. I am grateful for glimpses when I think I have understood the message of grace, but at this point I suspect I may have to wait until life after death to be able to give true grace. I have forgiven and been forgiven. I have been kind and many people have been kind to me, I have been given much and at times I have been generous. I am just not yet able to relinquish the control that reason and judgment allow me to feel and give all to God so he can lead me to a life of grace for myself and everyone whose lives I touch
