Resting In Grace Exemplo

Our response to other people’s failures and mistakes matter. A lot.

Grace isn’t overlooking sin or acting as if it’s acceptable nor is it diminishing its effects.

Grace says: “I know you messed up here, and that stinks. But your actions won’t push me away. Instead, they motivate me to draw closer. Because I know you can do better. I believe you will do better, and I’ll be walking beside you each step of the way.”

This past year, our daughter got engaged. I know she and her fiancé will experience failure, likely numerous times. They won’t always make the right choices or love one another well. They’ll argue and say things they wish they hadn’t. They’ll make poor career decisions, some that may even cost them tens of thousands.

But they’ll be okay because they’ll always have the grace of God, of one another, and of my husband and I to fall back on. My prayer is that the knowledge of those truths will provide the safety, the catalyst, for their growth.

Fear paralyzes, but Scripture says perfect love casts out fear.

Let me play on those words a bit. We all fear we’ll be cast out, that we’ll do something that will cause others to reject us and cut us off. But love draws near, and the love that draws near casts out the fear of being cast off. If I instill nothing else into our daughter’s heart, I want it to be this: My love remains.

Imagine our relationships, our churches, and Bible study groups if we learned to communicate grace-based love, not just with our words, but more importantly, with our actions and reactions. Imagine if we showed others the same love, mercy, and grace that Christ, daily, shows us. 

Who in your circle do you struggle to show grace to? What might it look like if you were to show Christ’s love and grace to that individual?

~Jennifer Slattery

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