HOLDING GRACE HOSTAGE
Holding grace hostage; extending grace to others
Take a moment to think of your life before Christ. Your thoughts, actions, habits, attitudes...
I used to smoke; heavily. Thankfully, through God’s grace (and patience), I am a new creation now - but it’s taken time! And it wasn’t always an easy walk.
Change is hard.
When I see people smoking now, I feel disgusted. I automatically begin to condemn and judge them. Wow - how judgmental! 5 years ago that was me!!! How quick we are to forget where we came from. Yet God loved us the same then as he does now. His love -- his grace -- doesn’t change. It has nothing to do with us and everything to do with who he is.
Extending that same grace to others can be hard when we’re comparing them to ourselves, our growth, what we’ve done to where we are now. God loves all of us. Jesus died for all of us. He has forgiven all our sins and made us right in him - who are we to hold that same grace hostage!?
“He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now!” 2 Corinthians 5:15-16 NLT
Sometimes growth and perspective can be harmful if we aren’t humble at heart. It can distort our love and grace towards others who might not be at the same stage of growth as us. When all else fails, love from his love. What we go through today, can help us extend grace to someone tomorrow.