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“Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”– 2 Corinthians 12:8-9
Grace was given to us as a gift of love from God, not because we earned it, but because He is good of heart. We are taught to not only give grace to ourselves, but to others as well. As humans, we can forget to live out of this grace we’ve been given. Instead, we tend to be hard on our own spirit.
We measure our success based on our accomplishments and achievements, which are worldly measurements for what makes a “good life.” When we look at our checklists, we can learn to be grateful for what we have accomplished and give ourselves grace for what we have not yet accomplished. God also gives us grace where we sin and fall short. Instead of remaining in guilt, He extends forgiveness when we repent.
The same goes for recognizing the good works of others rather than their sins. We need to remember that we are all equal and everyone sins. Our power is made in weakness. When we are at our lowest is the time to recognize God’s gift of grace. We can rest in Him always.
“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” – Hebrews 4:16
God says we can have confidence that grace is extended to us as believers.. When we let go of our pride and let go of our control, this allows God to give us mercy that we do not deserve. We approach the throne, in this case God himself, with our humble testimonies. This teaches us how to abide in Him.
“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” – 1 Peter 4:10
The gift of grace has been given to us by God so that we may give it to others, even if we do not think they deserve it. Jesus was sent to the cross and died to save us from our sin when he did not deserve this suffering. However, he did this through the gift of sacrificial love. We need to know this when we do not want to be gracious to others, because God tells us to do everything in love. All the gifts we have been given whether it be love, joy, peace or patience, we need to share with the people around us so that they may see God’s light shine through.
We must have faith in God and be faithful toward Him by presenting the gift of grace to others because this teaches us humility. When we are prideful, we tend to deny forgiveness to others which only makes it more difficult for us to have grace. By being grateful and recognizing God’s gift of grace to us we are not letting pride get in our way. We need to be gracious toward ourselves and others just as God has done toward us.
