blessing,

The Proposal

3:28:00 PM Unknown 2 Comments

Today in church we were learning about grace, and the message made me think what is grace? and that if we are made by Christ to be like Christ then we all have it in us to show Grace and mercy regularly; but how many of us do? The Biblical definition of Grace is the unearned gift the Father gives his children, and likewise the Webster dictionary defines Graces as a capacity to tolerate, accommodate, or forgive people, and the infinite love, mercy, favour, and goodwill shown to humankind by God. Also other words for Grace are: mercy which is kindness or forgiveness shown especially to somebody a person has power over, benevolence is the duty to do good by others, blessing which is help believed to come from God, and charity which is the impartial love of other people and the voluntary provision of money, materials, or help to people in need. Therefore Grace’s is the duty to do good, show tolerance, forgive, show impartial love and help others in need even if it is unearned. We have been saved by God’s Grace as pointed out in Titus 3:5 "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us."And Eph.2 8, 9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” God has given us this unmerited gift of life and continually shows us Grace by giving us blessings when we repeatedly are undeserving of them. Thomas Watson said "How many steps may a man take in the way to the kingdom of God, and yet miss it?" This is true how often we have lost our way, but God by grace shows us the way back. We have Christ in us and we were made in his image, then shouldn’t we try to live like Christ? And if God shows us Grace and Mercy day after day then isn’t our obligation to show our Grace and Mercy to all people? And if everyone made an effort to show Mercy and Grace habitually then wouldn’t our world be a better place? In the Bible there are scripture saying we should live with grace, for instance: Luke 6: 35-36 “I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You’ll never – I promise – regret it. Live out this God created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst. Our Father is kind; you are kind.” And Romans 12: 14-21 “Bless your enemies; [...] get along with each other; don’t be stuck up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody. Don’t hit back; discover the great beauty in everyone [...] if you see your enemy hungry, go buy the person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing well.” God is telling us to live well and do well; my final question is if we were to show Grace and mercy daily would this have an impact on our life? And this is the question that leads me to my challenge for myself and my readers: I am proposing a 30 day Challenge where we will make an effort to find one person a day and show them our mercy and grace. I will document the challenges, reaction and in the end the difference in my life. This is not for the faint of heart and it could be life changing. One day one person and we WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!! February 8 will mark day 1 of the Grace Challenge and challenge number one is: To find a person in need that most people would say about them “they made their bed” and bring them a one dish meal!! A final prayer to help "Dear Lord, bless us and lift us up. Thank you for your wonderful mercy and grace! There is no other like you. Increase those qualities in us. Help us to show mercy and grace to others. Forgive us for the times when we have not. Praise you for your awesome character and your consistent love. Increase our faith and our love for you and others. In Jesus' name, Amen."