Grace Reflects Grace

There are days in this journey where the graces we are given become lessons we must learn. We have to apply them to our living, and we have to stand by their courses. This bold grace thing, it is hard.  Yet, I am not quite sure it is meant to be easy.

In those moments when giving grace is more like planting a seed, we may never truly see the outcome of that sacrifice but we can hope and we can trust that the ONE who manufactures this grace thing is fully at work. Simply because GRACE, is so much more than we can fully comprehend. When we finally get a glimpse of its depth, it is usually because we have come to understand just a fraction of what it is like to truly give it away.

Giving grace will cost you. It is not free.

Giving grace is a replication of His gift to us. Grace cost Christ blood on a Cross. He paid the price and He did it freely, by choice. As Christ followers, friends, we are called to follow His example. Today, my flaws will show with this post, because it is right here that I have often seen myself trip.

This planting grace, it is powerful and it is deeply ingrained in the love that the Holy Spirit sheds abroad in our hearts which leads to hope. (Romans 5:5)  Since we are not fully Christ-like yet, we tend to set our hearts upon the limitations that precede the planting of grace in others. Friends, grace is irrevocably tied to hope and because of that, we have much to bank upon its power to transcend everything we don’t understand.

Consider this thought: Grace reflects grace.

If this is true, then we have no freedom to impose rules on who receives it or how it is given. I know I have talked about this before, but friends this time this lesson was a heart lesson I needed to understand, if you will allow me, let’s walk a bit farther together on this grace journey.

Grace is an extension of His love toward us.  Grace communicates the love of God to others, most often especially through hard lessons we learn in life.  The fruit our growing produces becomes the seeds that we can scatter and sow in faith, or we can spread to the wind in discontent, fully unaware of how much we miss the point of this maturing process.

I am struck by this paradigm that surrounds my heart. This grace thing has pulled up a chair in the table of my heart, unwilling to move. It is here to stay, and if that is true, then it is time to wrestle with the hard questions. 

How does it look when I give grace like Christ?

 Grace, this charismatic gift of favor and hope, it is fully beyond my understanding, but yet I cling to it. I need it. I long to live it, and when we long to follow Him, in the unchartered waters of faith, He provides the opportunities to choose His way.

When we long to live like Christ, we are fully confronted with possibility.

This possibility is a full-frontal challenge to walk the walk and talk the talk. Sometimes my walk doesn’t always match my talk and I find myself taking a face plant in the sands that come close to the ocean of grace beyond. I can see it, I can get a glimpse, but until I surrender I may not get my toes in the water.

The grace I have been shown through the Love of God has never been a gift I have deserved. I know that. Yet, sometimes I forget

Maybe you do too? Those days when things happen or words are said that strip us clean. Those are the days when grace is dangled close and we can choose to give it or refuse it both for ourselves and for others.

This truth weighs heavy on my heart: even when it is not fair, even when it is fully comprehensible (by worldly standards) for me to withhold grace, even when I am justified in my hurt, even when I have done nothing wrong, even when I was betrayed,  even when….. ( fill in the blank here).

Even in all those circumstances do you realize that we are now getting a glimpse of the grace we have been offered? Therefore we have no choice but to reflect the actions of the grace giver Himself, by following Christ we are also cross-bearers of grace.

Look to the red-letter words that exemplify grace in complete fullness:

If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. – Matthew 16:24

I can’t stand here and tell you about grace and then decide to withhold it from someone else whether or not they deserve it, whether or not I am justified, whether or not they even know their words, actions, or whatever it was took a chunk of my heart.

The reality is, my heart is not my own. It is the home of Christ. Any offense against me is not an attack upon me but on the One I serve and love. This is the place that surrender finds me fully bowed because when I realize that, then I know that grace isn’t even mine to give to others, I have no choice in the matter because if I don’t give it away, reflecting the power of His grace in me, then I have no right to seek it from the hand of the One who authored the book on grace to begin with.

Sometimes I just don’t understand the way we inflict pain, using words and actions we justify with our own definition of righteousness.   Yet I need to aspire to live like Christ did, who never once tried to defend himself or injure another with words or actions that condemn.(Romans 8:1-2)

Sometimes I want to pull away from this pursuit of grace because it is hard to die to self and to give up my rights. Yet if I am going to follow Him, then the Word says I need to pick up my cross and die daily, willfully in constant surrender, continual rejoicing, and unceasing prayer.(Luke 9:23)

Sometimes I want to explain myself, all too often this is the case, when in reality, if my conscience is pure, clean and bared before the Lord, then I don’t need to utter a word. He is the defense, and because His intentions are always pure, full of grace and love, then the outcome will always reflect Him.(Psalm 62:2)

Grace reflects grace, friends.

Grace wears a scent that identifies our journey to the Cross daily.

Right here in the life lessons our broken humanity is pieced together in beauty. When grace becomes more than a byword, it is destined to become the scent we wear. Like the distinct fragrance of a flower reveals its identity, so, too does the essence of grace in our lives show our path to the Cross.

{Do you struggle extending grace to everyone?}

{What circumstances have you found your own hearts stumbling over with the topic of grace?}

Consider these words penned long ago. I found it nestled in between a collection of graces that always bring my heart to a place of contemplative prayer.  The author is unknown to me but the book is called,  “A Valley of Vision” by Arthur Bennet.

O my LORD and Saviour,

Thou has also appointed a cross for me to take up and carry,

a cross before thou givest me a crown.

Thou has appointed it to be my portion,

but self-love hates it,

carnal reason is unreconciled to it:

without the grace of patience I cannot bear it,

walk with it, profit by it.

O blessed cross, what mercies does thou bring with thee!

Thou are only esteemed hateful by my rebel will,

heavy because I shirk thy load.

Teach me, gracious LORD and Saviour,

that with my cross thou sendest promised grace

so that I may bear it patiently that my cross is thy yoke which is easy,

and thy burden which is light.

Praying for the beauty of His grace to reflect in you!

We are talking about Grace Reflections at the Table of Grace Community this week.  I would love to have you join me and wrestle with the deep thoughts and hard questions. The cross following, yoke exchanging, walk with Jesus that leads us to the Table of Grace together. Feel free to join the group on FB.

Linking up with friends :

SDG Gathering, Make A Difference Mondays, Playdates with God, Unite, #TellHisStory, Coffeefor Your Heart, Wednesday Prayer Girls, Three Word Wednesday,Thought Provoking Thursdays, Missional Women, Fellowship Fridays, Counting My Blessings, Faith and Fellowship Blog Hop, Fellowship Friday,Saturday Soiree, Give Me Grace