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Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Showing Grace and Mercy

I love social media. I love that it allows me to stay connected to people in some form, even though there may be miles and miles separating us. I love how I get to see kids who were in my youth group 15 years ago now raising their own families.

I could do without the moment to moment updates some people post about what they are eating; and I would be a happy guy if I never received another game invite. Yet, the good of this virtual social connection, in my mind, outweighs the bad.

One thing I have noticed while reading people's posts, tweets, or comments, is the misuse of words.

Some words are misused so frequently, the correct meaning is lost.

When people post things like, "I literally cried my eyes out!" It makes me chuckle, because if someone's eyes literally went swimming out of their head on a waterfall of tears, I doubt they would stop to post about it online.

I believe this same word-plague applies to the church. We have misused some words so frequently, we have forgotten their meaning.

I want to focus on a couple words that I believe have been misunderstood, or misused.

Here are the two words, along with my favorite definitions of them.

Grace: Getting what we don't deserve.
Even though I don't deserve God's love, He gives it to me freely. 

Mercy: Not getting what we do deserve.
Even though I deserve separation from God because of my mistakes, God instead, chooses to draw me close to Him. 

These two words are vital to our understanding of God, and His thoughts and love toward us.

I imagine I am not alone in my struggle to understand and receive Grace and Mercy from God.

Yet, receiving Grace and Mercy is not the end of the conversation. Not only do we need to accept what God offers us, we also need to extend that same Grace and Mercy to others.

In Colossians 3:13 it speaks toward our need to extend Grace to each other. "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." We are to extend grace through our forgiveness and attitudes toward each other.

In Matthew 5:7 Jesus speaks of the need for us to show Mercy. He explains that showing Mercy is the appropriate response for one who has received Mercy. "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."

Now the fun part, let's apply this to our own lives.

What if someone hurt you, or let you down?

Grace says forgive them freely.
Mercy says to hold back your anger and desire to retaliate.

You may respond with, "They don't deserve my forgiveness; or they hurt me first, so I have every right to be angry and hurt them back!" To that I respond with, "You are right."

That is the point.

We should not say, "I am showing Grace, but I just can't forgive them." or "I am offering Mercy, but I am not letting this go."

Even though they don't deserve your forgiveness, even though you have a right to respond with anger; Grace applied offers forgiveness instead, and Mercy applied subdues anger and replaces it with love.

I know it's hard, trust me, I know.

The good news is, God isn't asking us to do it on our own. Grace and Mercy come from God, they are gifts He gives us. We don't need to conjure up Grace and Mercy, we only need to receive them from God, and choose to apply them.

So let me challenge you, as you walk through your week...

Choose to literally show Grace and Mercy to others!

1 comment:

  1. I've learned in the struggle to walk out these principles, to simple ask for more grace to forgive. Getting caught up in the cycle of releasing anger and then it making its way back around again frustrates me more than anything these days. But I understand its all part of a process. Graciously, God reminds me of His mercy towards me always at some point and I'm able to show more grace in forgiveness and the process continues. How awesome it is that we have the Best God who loves us just as much, and all the same as always, forever, no matter where we are at!

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