Extend Grace

"The only way to be better rather than bitter is to extend the same grace to others that God extended to us through Jesus Christ." 

      It's so easy in our human pride to get carried away with our own selfishness! I decided to write about this topic because it's something that I have found extremely difficult, but so life changing. Extending grace to others is definitely one of the hardest things to do when we're upset, but really, it's the very least we can do. We can be such vile people sometimes, seriously so so cruel and mean. Even though we might wear a mask of kindness, often there are times that our hearts act out in not-so-lovely ways. The Bible calls our heart desperately wicked for a reason! 

     Imagine if Jesus didn't extend us grace - none of us would be on our way to Heaven. Grace is the free, unmerited favor. Do we deserve His salvation? No way. Do we deserve His forgiveness? Absolutely not. But does He still freely offer it to us? Praise God the answer is yes. So why is it so easy for us to get all angry and bitter toward people when they do things that bother us? I can speak for myself when I say that it's ridiculous how often I let myself get all rude and upset when someone says something or does something that rubs me the wrong way. If Jesus kept a written record of all my wrongs, the list would start at the ground and reach higher than the Empire State Building. We should be taking on the same mind as Christ in all we say and do, therefore we really and truly should be extending grace to our friends, families, coworkers..everyone, as much as we can. 

     Now I get that a lot of this is easier said than done, but God tells us in His word that we are to take on the mind of Christ. If it was impossible, He wouldn't have asked us to do it. Here are a few things that have helped me as I'm learning the lesson of extending grace. 

1. Stop complaining to other people. 

     When someone upsets us, isn't it so easy to run to whoever may listen and complain to them? We want people to relate to us and justify our nasty attitude. If you need to go to someone about the situation, go to a godly friend who won't just agree with your bad thinking. Earlier today I was upset about something pretty dumb and I brought it up to someone I was working with, and she reminded me that I shouldn't let the silly situation spoil my day. That was something I was so thankful for because it was just what I needed to have that reality check - that we live each day for the glory of God so why should little things bother us in the first place? I needed to remember that I needed to extend grace to the person who wasn't extending grace to me. When people do things that irritate you, don't run to the closest listening ear to justify your bad mood. Try praying that God would help you understand all sides of the situation and that you would be able to let go things that aren't worth holding on to. Sometimes it's good to talk to someone about it, but make sure it's a person who will have godly advice.

2. Remember that you're not put on a pedestal.

     Sometimes we want our own way because we think we are better than anyone/everyone else. Although this isn't something we do on purpose, we often put ourselves on pedestals that we have no right to be standing on. Maybe someone cut in front of you in line...okay, yeah, it's annoying, but I know I've done it to people before. Usually when people bother us, they're doing it totally unintentionally. We often do to others the exact thing that we're annoyed about when other people do it to us. Ok, so there's no good way to word that sentence, but basically if someone cuts in front of me in line, I need to extend grace because I know I have accidentally cut in line before. Nobody put us on a higher level or made us any more important than anyone else walking around in this universe. Keep that in mind.

3. After all, having a bad attitude is a sin. 

     When we're not extending grace, we're usually sulking around with a bad attitude. We might lash out at someone, give someone a dirty look, or go and gossip about them. If this is the case, we are NOT representing attitudes that are anything close to Christ-like, and we are in the wrong. It's very easy to explain away our sin because of what other people are doing, but that's a behavior that wont help us grow as Christians. We have to have the heart that understands when our attitude is bad, and have the willingness to ask God to extend grace towards us and forgive us for it.

     These are just a few things that have helped me the last few weeks as I've been working on this. Obviously it isn't easy, and it's something that takes time and effort. Do unto others as you would have them do to you is such a commonly used phrase but so often we flippantly disregard it's true importance. EXTEND GRACE as freely and often as GOD extends it towards YOU. :)

Stay excellent!