It’s one of those words that seems to follow you around, lurking in the shadows or hitting you head-on as you round a corner. You begin to see it on advertising billboards, car license plates and the daily devotional you read each morning. The word gets your attention and you begin to pay attention.
A few weeks ago I began to read Philip Yancey’s book “What’s So Amazing About Grace?” Now this book is over twenty years old so I was prepared for a bit of ‘outdatedness’ but I was pleasantly and admittedly convicted, as to how relevant the message of grace is even more so in our world today. As I read his words and stories, I am faced with the ungraciousness in my own life and how far along this road I have yet to travel. All of us daily encounter opportunities to extend grace and if we don’t, God will continue to give us those opportunities until our eyes are opened to how closed our hands have become. My mind and heart, along with my hands, are opening to His grace to me and how I extend that same grace to those He brings into my life.
What I did become aware of this past week is the grace that comes from His gifts. This visual Scripture was in my email folder a couple of days ago and again, it is the word that jumped from the screen into my heart.
God’s grace has various forms. It can be revealed to us in His gifts. It can become flesh to us through how we serve Him and others. As He extends His grace to us, we give it to those around us.
Grace: the undeserved forgiveness, kindness, and mercy that God gives us.
1 Corinthians 12 talks about God’s spiritual gifts, as does Romans 12. We all have gifts, some stronger and more evident than others. We can get caught up in trying to figure out where we fit into the family of God and the body, by taking tests and discerning what gift(s) we have. This can be good and helpful in the long run, but what if as we receive His grace, we simply be ourselves (becoming the person Christ is shaping) and give back that grace in generous gifts to others. Who are you and what do you love to do? What makes you come alive?
An example might be, I love to cook, so having people over for a meal or providing a meal for someone in need, is an act of grace. My ‘gift’ (which can be interpreted as serving) touches another life with God’s grace—His love, kindness, forgiveness, and mercy.
I have a few friends in my life of whom I can truly say ‘I love their laugh’. They are the type of people others love to be around. Their laugh is contagious. They lighten up a potential heavy scenario. You can hear their laugh from across the room and it is always uplifting. I daresay laughter can be a gift. Perhaps that falls into the area of encouragement. When they laugh, they lighten the life of another. Sharing their gift and extending the grace of God in its various forms. Whoever thought of laughing as a gift?
I’m sure some of us can also say that about the smile of a friend. I have a couple of friends who shed light on my life just by their smile. Somehow through that simple facial expression, love, kindness, mercy, joy, and grace shine through and touches me. Smiling is a gift….maybe…..again encouragement perhaps.
There’s a never-ending list of gifts or natural abilities that can easily come under the headings of those in Corinthians or Romans. Reading, writing, teaching, speaking, telling stories, praying, smiling, touching, ability to sense hurt or disappointment and reaching out (sensitivity), giving finances as well as time, showing mercy, taking the lead, organization — so many things we do in our normal day-to-day life that we think of as just stuff or tasks can actually be God’s grace in a form we have yet to recognize. Even a simple phone call, a note of appreciation or stopping in the grocery aisle to say hello puts grace in the flesh for some of us. Just showing up in someone’s life shouts GRACE.
“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. “ Romans 12:1 The Message Version
What if in 2018, we embraced grace, God’s grace, in its various forms and allowed our gifts to faithfully serve Him and others. Whatever that looks like, I am sure each one of us has several areas we can be ‘grace in the flesh’ to each other.
