The Gift of Grace
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—” Ephesians 2:8 NIV
If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that life can get really complicated. Some lessons come easy and other lessons come to knock you flat and you hit the ground HARD. When making decisions or dealing with conflict, sometimes it can be really tough to try to figure out the right thing to do.
We can mis-step and make a mistake. We are human and that is a part of being human. True spiritual discernment allows a vision of the heart and when you operate in discernment, you can see the intentions of a person’s heart. Love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8) so even in our mistakes love can conquer all. Although we make mistakes and we don’t always make the best decisions, it’s the intentions of the heart that matter most. If you look at a persons mistakes, using love as your lens, it makes forgiveness easy.
I say what I say, through MANY life lessons in which some have come easy and others have come extremely hard, to say this: If ever you find yourself in a position where you are dealing with conflict, my best advice would be… Care more about others than you care for yourself. Sometimes, it’s hard to forgive others because we want them to do what’s best for us and not necessarily what’s best for them and even so, if we’re being honest, what is best for us is not always what’s actually BEST. I have found when you care more about others, the reciprocity of love will always bring balance. We have to be able to forgive others who hurt us because one day we might be in the position to need forgiveness. Those will be the moments you truly understand and appreciate the gift of grace. We are all doing the best we can and your best does not necessarily mean right or perfect. So in everything you do, give yourself and others the gift of grace because one day you might need it too.