I rejoiced: I received so much grace!
But offences nearly soured my bliss.
Glaring at each, it was unbearable
Compelling me to descend, to fight
But when grace counseled to weigh
Fat offences on the scale of His Word
They all counted as naught despite
Their sizes and frequencies. Then
Grace counselled again, to climb on
On same scale: wow, I weighed far
Above them all: I could take them all.
I once sold items to someone who resold them at about twice the price and wouldn’t pay me. I felt it was just to use my connections to get my money but the Lord constrained me, as in several other situations not strictly money related, to stoop down in kindness toward the debtor and bestow favor instead of the deserved punishment. My thought was that when you let people get away with wrong, you encourage them. It is only just that a man reaps his due wages, right? Yet, God was simply asking me to do unto this person as He does to me and as I would want others to do to me if I was wearing those horrible shoes. The overwhelming and overriding influence of His presence and grace within enables us to do without, what Christ would have done if he was standing in our position.
The offended friend, whose case I mentioned two weeks ago, had seen God fight for me. She has also watched me write off tremendous debts over the years so it was easy to ask her to practice it. We jointly prayed that God helps her to release the anger and rise above the disappointments, and to lead the offender to repentance. I didn’t really tell her what she wanted to hear. My prayer did not meet her expectation. I provided no solution. Nevertheless, instead of the sadness and heaviness with which she arrived, her peace and joy was restored. Truth be told, it is hardly about the offender. It is primarily about God and what He is up to in our lives, which is to our ultimate good.
Why am I sharing this? First, these are things that continually come to us and those around us. I hear the same things from different people all the time. Like Solomon said: there is nothing new under the sun, including offences. We may have missed it in times past. Our reactions yesterday may not meet the mark today and should not become the standard. God’s Word remains the litmus paper with which to test our actions and reactions. Sensitivity to what the Holy Spirit is prompting us to do per time is very essential.
Secondly, God’s grace is extravagantly available to us. It is there to help us when we are weak and unable. It is there for us when we are pushed beyond our limits. We should therefore learn to use it lavishly because if we don’t now, it will amount to such a great waste. We won’t need it in heaven. Grace is for here and now so let us dig in, enjoy and share with others, as much as we can, while we yet can.
Thirdly, we have to get it right first before we can help another. You cannot effectively correct another in rage. The wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God. We have to step back when offended, look in the mirror, and patiently take out the log in our eyes. And if there is none, the process of check has a calming effect on volatile emotions. Thereafter, we can proceed to reach out to the other with requisite tenderness, to help deal with the speck in theirs. It is very easy to conclude that others are the problem, not me but if we look a little closer, there is always something to learn, even in offensive situations. Besides, it is almost impossible to impart what you have not proven. Patience is an indispensable resource.
Finally and most importantly, we need to know what manner of spirit we are made of so we can live accordingly, not contrarily. We all at some points have served and received offences, and still will. A change of heart is the only guarantee that will extricate us from the dangerous consequences of acting like the wicked servant we are not. We are God’s children, redeemed by love through grace and called to spread the glorious fragrance of redeeming love, not of bitterness and wickedness. That is the only way the world can see that we are different – when we love like Christ, not like our offenders, which is how anger forces us to respond.
Who are we minus grace? What are we and what have we if not for the grace of God? So what if they have done it a hundred times? We are still the debtors because we owe them 70 x 7 doses of forgiveness per day so calculate and see who actually is owing. So what if we are cheated? Is it not better to be cheated than that we become the cheats? Weigh all the stuffs you count as big deal on the scale of God’s word and you’ll discover they really don’t amount to much. Weigh yourself on the same scale and you will realize that you are more than all these are trying to make of you.
You can handle these better than you have, better than you are. It is only a big deal when we are ignorant or unwilling to write off debts. Now ignorance is out, are you willing? To whom much grace is given, much grace is expected. If God marked our sins, we would all be dead but He extends new mercy every day to us because of grace. Have you enjoyed a little of this grace? Then share it with someone you feel is undeserving and watch God break through barriers that are holding you down.
Glory!