- Ephesians 4:29 (ESV)
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
…”that it may give grace to those who hear.”
Sometimes I want to give grace, sometimes I don’t. Some people simply irritate and aggravate me. They are a pain to be around, to work with.
So sometimes I want to be a person of grace and mercy and love and the rightness of God. But everyone doesn’t deserve to be treated like this, you know. Does that give me an exemption? No, no, no.
Grace is my path no matter where the other person is or what they are doing.
If I want to honor and love my God with devotion and obedience, if I want to taste life from his words, it is words of grace. Even for the one I would just as soon ignore.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to be mean, at least not usually. Okay, so confession of sin is part of my daily walk with God, but you know what I mean. I don’t want to mistreat anyone; I just don’t always want to be around them or have to deal with them. But often this is not my choice. They are there; right in the middle of my life; often at work.
And so it is grace. And then it is God.
If I honor and love my God enough to follow his instructions for life no matter the obstacles to my good day, then it is God. Being there, filling, caring, giving me perspective, seeing circumstances and people as he does.
I see my life so differently from the path of obedience. Grace given is grace received.
Live by grace; live in grace.
- 2 Corinthians 9:8 (NKJV)
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
- 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NKJV)
And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
