Live Love: Give Grace

Not only do we need to be reminded of God's gift of grace to us unworthy sinners, we also need to extend that grace to others in our lives. This isn't new news, but we too often forget it nonetheless.

Sometimes it's easier to realize the beauty of grace when it's juxtaposed to the feelings generated by other religions. When living in Bahrain, we realized the motivations behind Muslim "good" choices: merit and fear. They want to "make merit" to get into heaven, and they fear punishment for their immoral choices. These motivations are created becaues of their view of Allah--a judge who weighs their good against their evil.

Our gracious Father, though, looks at us and sees the purity of His Son Jesus. Therefore, we're accepted by the "works" of Someone Else and not ourselves. As Philip Yancey says, "There's nothing I can do to make God love me more. There's mothing I can do to make God love me less." Our Lord gives grace, and we respond with love.

In the same way, if we apply this principle to our earthly relationships, the bonds tighten, clasped together with love instead of merit or fear. Too often we treat each other with judgmental attitudes--weighing the good and bad in our friends, family members, children, etc. How beautiful our love would glisten if we gave grace instead...