Good Morning My Friends! TGIF!!! I know what you’re thinking. Thank God it’s Friday. Am I right? Well, I have a new meaning for this acronym. Come check it out.
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior!
The Apostle Paul begins every letter he wrote with a similar greeting, but always the word “grace” is offered to his readers.
I believe that’s because he was God’s servant. His calling in life was to tell others about the good news of Jesus Christ. Paul was given grace by Jesus and his mission was to extend that grace to others.
Before Paul became a servant of God, his name was Saul and he was a persecutor of God’s people. He actually approved the stoning of Stephen, who had done nothing wrong. Then he went around town (Jerusalem) and started dragging off men and women and putting them in prison. Why? Because they were followers of Jesus.
One day as he was traveling to Damascus a bright light shown down from heaven, and he heard a voice speak to him, “Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
Then Saul asked “Who are you, Lord?”
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
Now, the men traveling with Saul were completely speechless; they heard that big sound, but they didn’t see anyone. There were quite frightened. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he couldn’t see. He was blind. So the men who were with him led him by the hand into Damascus.
If you want to find out more about Paul’s conversion from persecutor of Jesus to follower of Jesus, read Acts 8-10.
Total Transformation
Saul became Paul.
He deserved punishment from God for how he persecuted God’s people, but Jesus embraced grace with Paul.
Grace is the free and unmerited favor of God.
Grace is given even when someone doesn’t deserve it. Let’s face it, Paul (Saul) didn’t deserve grace. He deserved punishment.
Warren W. Wiersbe, author of On Being a Servant of God writes, “You don’t earn grace, and you don’t deserve grace; you simply receive it as God’s loving gift and then share it with others,” (p. 17).
Now, Jesus could have easily had vengeance on Paul for all the horrible things he did to people, but Jesus chose to extend grace.
Vengeance is to inflict punishment in retaliation of an injury or offense.
You know, Jesus wasn’t treated very well when He walked this earth either. In fact, He was beaten, whipped, and nailed to a cross for doing nothing wrong!
Do you know what He said on the cross?
“Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34, NIV).
Jesus extended grace to all of us by dying on the cross for our sins. He didn’t have to do this for us, but He did because He loves us, and He wants us to receive His gift of eternal life.
How Then Shall We Live?
We live in a world full of hurting people.
Hurt people hurt other people.
I’m sure we’ve all been injured or offended by someone in our life. Most likely we’ve experienced this far too many times.
But God wants us to embrace others with grace, not retaliate against them, and hurt them back.
God’s whole purpose for us is that He came to save us, not punish us. Salvation is free! Grace is free!
If Jesus Himself can be tortured and not retaliate, and He is our Helper (Hebrews. 4:16), then I know we’re capable of extending grace to others too, but are we willing to?
Practical Application
Give something free to others when they don’t deserve it. Extend grace. Give it away.
After all Jesus gives us each grace when we don’t deserve it.
Grace is free!
TGIF (Thank God It’s Free)
Here are just a couple of ideas to get you started extending grace today:
- If someone snaps at you, don’t snap back. Respond with kind and gentle words.
- If someone needs to get into your lane, let them, don’t be a jerk and cut them off.
- If your parent yells at you, don’t yell back. Rather listen and obey.
- If your neighbor left their barking dog out again, don’t call the police. Turn on some happy music to drown out the noise.
Remember TGIF!
Just for Today
Refrain from Vengeance. Embrace Grace!
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