Did you know that the Greek word for grace is Charis? It primarily means, kindness or favour. In a biblical sense, it represents God’s generous heart towards us. A gift freely given by Him regardless of whether we deserve such favour or not. This is the hinge that the grace door swings from because for me, when others try to diminish with their words or actions, I choose to offer the gift of grace. Not because they have deserved my kindness or I am ignoring their attitude toward me, far from it. It is because someone freely offered their gift of grace to me in my not-so-great, undeserving moments. 

The gift of grace plants seeds in souls that remind us we are loved regardless of all our imperfections. The gift is both daringly audacious and irresponsibly foolhardy, for whenever we give grace away there is always room for fear to reside in the exchange. Rejection can cause this valiant gift to be left unopened, as we pre- decide not to hand out grace so freely next time, due to the fact we’re still reeling from a previous kick in the face or we are trying to thaw out from the icy blast of a cold shoulder. 

This isn’t to say that we should become a doormat for Jesus. Grace is not about tolerating bad behaviour, as this can become a gap for the enemy to operate. The uncomfortable feelings emerge when the gift of grace is left unopened and rejected by the very one you’re extending your kindness towards.

 I must admit, I sometimes wrestle with God over giving away the gift of grace to those undeserving of such favour because each time it is given it costs me something. He reminds me in those moments that it cost Jesus everything when He announced from the cross, ‘It is finished” (John 19:30) as the degree and weight of His gift of grace was freely offered so that every blameworthy, crooked, and tainted human being could have salvation.

Grace is given and in the exchange it is not my responsibility to make sure the other person accepts my gift because it cost me something. If my gift of grace is pushed aside or rejected then I need to choose not to give the other person the power to change my posture in the exchange. 

Years ago, I was waiting for my coffee I’d ordered before heading into a church service. Whilst waiting for the barista to call my name, a guy who was also waiting for his coffee, introduced himself and I, in a pleasant exchange, told him my name. We struck up a ‘small talk while awkwardly waiting for our coffee’ conversation and after a few minutes the barista called out both our names and I said, ‘Well, there’s our coffees!’ The guy looked puzzled and said, ‘Oh, I’m sorry, I thought your name was Grace, not Wendy.’ 

Why am I telling you all this? Well, that was a significant moment for me because at that time I had been praying and asking God some hard hitting questions like; Why am I so graceful toward others? Am I dumb for believing the best of others regardless of their posture toward me? Why am I undeterred in showing kindness to others even when it gets trampled on, rejected, or dismissed? Why is it that I decide to choose again, and again, and again to offer the gift of grace? 

When a complete stranger remarks that they thought your name was ‘Grace’ even after you mention your name in a brief introduction, it was a clear sign that God saw each one of my grace-filled moments toward others. If it wasn’t for His gift of grace that had been given to me first I would not have the strength or desire to share my gift of grace to others.   

Every one of our mishaps and mistakes remind us God’s undeserved merit toward us is totally a gift from above. Because through His kindness and goodness God lavishes us with the gift of grace. Like the apostle Paul, we stand in agreement when he stated in 1 Corinthians 15:10, ‘But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect.’ 

Paul went from persecuting Christians to cheering them on. How could he do that? The kindness of God’s generous heart and gift of His grace that empowered Paul to offer underserving grace to others. 

Wendy xo