4-26-20 A Gallon of Grace
Quote: “When you finally learn that a person’s behavior has more to do with their internal struggle than it ever did with you… you learn grace.” – Toby Mac
One of the buzz words around the world these days seems to be the word “offended”. You’ve heard people say it, you’ve read stories about it in the news, and you yourself have had it happen to you. “That offends me!” is common language in our culture. Sadly, I must confess that the feeling of offense gripped me tight for many years. I’d like to share with you some insights I’ve learned about the danger of living offended.
When we become overly sensitive or easily wounded, the enemy sees this as an opportunity to get in and manipulate our minds. The Bible refers to him as the Father of Lies. He doesn’t want us to connect with others and live in harmony. He wants us to constantly be offended by others. He plants seeds of doubt about who we are, what God thinks of us, and especially about how others feel about us. This leads to the destructive habit of doing a lot of “stinking thinking”.
Once we get on that rabbit trail, it is hard to get back on the straight and narrow path. When someone hurts us with their actions or words, we immediately become offended. And those people that hurt us over and over again? It seems as if they are dead set on wounding us right where we bleed the most.
But, what life has taught me is… surprise! It’s not usually about us at all! It’s usually about a deep wound that they have. Ask my own children how many times a week I say the phrase, “Hurt people hurt people.” It’s a reminder that people act out for a reason. They often lash out and offend us because they are hurting. If they weren’t hurting or struggling with something themselves, they wouldn’t offend us because they would come at us with love instead of jabs.
That my friends is where grace kicks in. That’s where we recognize their pain and give them a gallon of grace in return. And why do we do this? Why don’t we offend back? Because we’re different. As Christians, we have the stories of Jesus as our example to follow. We know that our Heavenly Father gives us swimming pool size heaps of grace every…single…day. We offend him every day and yet he chooses to give us grace every new day. When we choose everything under the sun to fill our 24 hours with and can’t even make 30 minutes to talk with him, study his life manual, and serve others? Yeah, he has every right to be offended. Yet he loves us anyway.
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 6:1, “Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.” Remember his love and grace for us the next time you are offended by someone. While we may not deserve some of the things that are said about us or done to us, give gallons of grace to others anyway. Because we know how much grace is lavished on us daily, it helps us see others in a different light.
