"Freely you have received, therefore freely give."
Just a quick note on extending grace to others...
All too often, in a moment of frustration or dissatisfaction with someone (e.g. relative, co-worker, friend, etc.) we fail to extend to them the same grace that God consistently extends to us. This day, make a conscious effort to renew your mind in the spirit of grace. Let us not be too hard or critical concerning another's failure to honour a command of God or even a personal request. At that moment, let us become consciousness of God's grace in our own lives and then extend such grace to others. Writer and theologian C.S. Lewis captures our human, nonetheless adjustable condition concerning this:
"This year, or this month, or, more likely, this very day, we have failed to practice ourselves the kind of behaviour we expect from other people."
--The Case for Christianity
C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)
A Final Note:
Since we are living in the dispensation of grace: from God toward man. It should be then reciprocated from man toward man!
DSW
Luke 6:38 Give and it shall be given unto you. Good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over shall men give unto our bosom. For with the same measure we meet withal it shall be measured unto us again.
ReplyDeleteMany of us have heard this scripture with regards to finances. While this is accurate in fulfilling the law of reciprocity, we should read further or rather backwards. This passage is dealing with the sowing of Mercy, Judgment, Condemnation and Forgiveness.
If we forgive men of their wrongs against us, so will our Heavenly Father forgive us our wrongs against him. (Matthew 6:14). Take a look at Matthew 18:34:35 when it comes to the consequences of not forgiving.
We must realize that EVERYTHING we do is a seed. Whether we plant faith or fear, love or hate, or as the earlier scripture mentions, mercy, judgment, condemnation or forgiveness, we will ALWAYS receive a harvest. It will not return to us the way we have given it out, but it will return.
We would be wise to remember this as we pray for forgiveness ourselves and as we stand in the seat of the person needing to extend that forgiveness.