Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 2:1
To me, Grace means instant forgiveness
Not giving it a second thought
Not taking offense
Letting the offense go immediately
Not letting things fester
Not letting them soil your garment
Being kind and merciful, forgiving just like Jesus
While we can’t be Jesus,
We can follow His example
and be gracious to others with His strength and wisdom
It is not always easy to be gracious, instantly forgiving
It takes practice, trying and trying and trying again
Don’t let a wicked one whisper in your ear and justify your lack of grace
There is no excuse
Forgive like God has forgiven you
Don’t be like the wicked son Noah had
who wanted to expose his father’s nakedness
Similar to us if we try to expose the faults of others:
And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father,
and told his two brethren without.
And Shem and Japheth took a garment,
and laid it upon both their shoulders,
and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father;
and their faces were backward,
and they saw not their father’s nakedness. Genesis 9:22-23
Love covers a multitude of sin
Love
Love
And love some more
Place the offense at the foot of the cross and move on
The Lord will decide if He wants to address it or not and how
Nothing gets past Him so every situation is safe in His hands
If He wants you to respond to something someone has done,
do so with grace
But do not think of it as your duty or your position to correct a fault
God is so merciful, so kind and loving
Be like God
Love, forgive
Show those who fumble His compassion and let it go
The offense is not yours to hold onto
Do not let it cling to you
Remember the grace Christ has demonstrated to you
and treat others as though they are Christ, and truly forget about it
A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.
Proverbs 19:11 NIV
Scriptural References:
And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves:
for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
1 Peter 4:8
Seeing ye have purified your souls
in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren,
see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
1 Peter 1:22