A Gracious Woman Part 2

 Good Evening Friends!

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     I hope everyone is doing well! I want to talk about grace again. So let's think about the word grace means. What do you think it means to be gracious? You may say, being nice to someone or being patient, or extending mercy toward another person who may not even deserve it. These are all very good definitions, grace is defined as having unmerited favor or unconditional love. In other words, you didn't do anything to earn grace. It was given with no conditions, just because God loves us so much! So you may be thinking, wow, this is so amazing! It is and believe it or not, He expects us to extend that kind of grace to others. I know, this is easier said than done, I understand. I am learning this myself, it's not an easy thing to do. So how in the world are we supposed to do this? Well let's find out together what God's word says about extending grace to others. 

    Proverbs 1:8-9 says, "My child, listen when you father corrects you. Do not neglect your mother's instruction. What you learn from them will be crown you with grace and be a chain of honor around your neck." Okay so let's break this down, when our Father in heaven corrects us we are to listen and not neglect His teaching when we do this, He will crown us with grace and give us a necklace of honor. When we were little children, our parents tried their best to try to teach us and let's be honest, we as children were hardheaded at times. I can remember standing in the kitchen and watching my mother iron clothes and for whatever reason, I wondered to myself if the iron was hot. My mom would tell me not to touch the iron because it would burn me. Well for whatever reason, I had to find out for myself so what did I do? I went up and touched it and of course my mom was right, it was scalding hot and you know what? I never touched it again. Why? I learned my lesson from touching it, it was definitely hot and I didn't want to hurt my fingers again. 

         How many times have we read a scripture in the Bible containing instruction or God will try to correct us and we just continue to go our way only to end up in a mess? Well I can't answer for you, but my answer would be many times and you know what He always shows me grace even when I know I do not deserve it at all! He is telling us in this particular scripture that if we will obey this command then He will reward us with grace and honor. Let me ask you a question, is there a particular person or people that keep doing you wrong or hurting you in some way? I'm sure there is and even though we are first to forgive them, we are to be gracious to them. I know, I know, this is very hard to do, but God's word says, "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other as Christ forgave you." Eph. 4:32 What is being kind and compassionate? This is being gracious and also in our speech. A person can tell if you aren't in the mood to be nice and cordial. Being gracious toward one another is part of our witness for Christ, being a light in the darkness. 

          Let's be honest, we already have a lot mean-spirited, rude, brash culture in this world. What this world needs is the compassion of Christ and kindness, how do we do this? By being polite, going out of our way to help one another, lifting each other up in prayer, not speaking negatively or evil about people. I know, as I said before, easier said than done and we do need God's help to obey this command. Without Him, it won't happen or we will try to do it in our own strength and then we end up messing up. The Holy Spirit will come to our aid and help us do what God has called us to do. 

       So I want to encourage you my friends to show some grace towards the ones who aren't so nice to you or have wronged you. If they have, forgive them and give them over to God and let Him deal with them. He will work it all out for our good. There are so many hurting people in this world that could use a friendly smile, a hug, a prayer, a kind word because you don't know what people are going through and they need the love of Jesus just like we do. I pray that this post has inspired you and helped you extend grace toward others. May the Lord bless you and keep you. Until next time!