Have you ever had to cut someone some slack?
I have been waiting for the last hour or so for my son to be finished his college class so that I can text him and apologize.
I strongly suggested that he should work on a paper that is due next week. But then it dawned on me that what I was insisting on, really wasn’t helping him any.
Besides, I wasn’t seeing the whole picture.
If anything. I was adding to his “start of the term” stress. So in the last hour, I prayed about it and asked God what I should do and He confirmed that I need to back off, I need to cut my son some slack. In fact, I just texted him and did just that.
Sometimes we just have to let up and offer some grace. After all, God is the one who works in people and changes them.
In fact, grace is God’s best idea and we can learn from Him as to how to treat others better.
Often times, before we can extend grace to someone else, we need to allow God to work in us first.
Do you have a hard time forgiving someone? Can’t let up on someone? Christ can.
He offers us grace so that we can turn around and offer it to someone else. And when we follow His example and offer grace to others, the result is we often hear deep sighs of relief.
When we’re like Jesus and extend grace to others many things can change. If you wonder whether God can do anything in that other person’s life, then remember that grace is the answer, it’s the place to start.
So if grace is the answer, then why don’t we offer it more? I think it’s because we fear failure.
We don’t like failure in our own lives and we don’t like to see it in those close to us. We fear seeing it happen.
Perhaps the answer is to let up... back off a bit.
Hebrews 13:9 says, “Your heart should be strengthened by God’s grace, not by obeying rules.” Jesus never said, “come to me all those who are perfect and sinless.”
Just the opposite. He said, “Come all you who are weary and heavy - laden and I will give you rest.”
When it comes to our relationships with others, we shouldn’t expect them to be perfect either, but instead like Jesus, we need to just let grace happen. We never have to earn God’s unending affection and people shouldn’t have to earn ours either.
So take a rest.
If you are pressuring others, it’s not just hard on them, it’s hard on you too. Those who have been given grace should give it away.
If you are not letting up on someone then you’re not appreciating how God let up on you and offered you a grace you didn’t deserve.
After all, He sent Jesus to die for each of our sins so that we might experience His grace first hand.
How long has it been since your generosity of grace stunned someone?
Let grace untwist your heart. Remember that if we ask God, His grace can do a work in that other person’s life that is much more effective than all the strong suggestions we can make to them.
In 2 Corinthians 12:9 God says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness...”
This is what is called “sustaining grace.” Instead of trying to keep the other person in line, ask God to sustain that person with His grace. When you do that, you not only experience rest in your own life, but you also understand better the grace God extends to you.
By the way, I talked to my son a short while ago. Apology offered... grace extended.
When you take a few steps back and offer grace we loosen the ropes of stress and begin to understand, if just a little bit, the kind of life God wants us to have.
This column is submitted by the Beiseker Tri-Community Baptist Church.
