Grace: Give as Good as You Get - A Guest Post by Sharla Tilley

Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. Mark 11:25 NASB

We all want grace. We want to be forgiven for the wrongs we've done. But giving grace? That is another thing entirely.

Most of us have a sense of justice built in. When fighting for people who are oppressed or when deciding who is right or wrong in a situation, our sense of justice is a great help. The time when my sense of justice can be a drawback? Any time I need to exercise forgiveness.

Forgiving someone who has done something wrong can be tough. We’ve all seen extraordinary examples of people forgiving someone who has committed an atrocity against them. It seems impossible. That’s because without God’s grace, it is.

We don’t spend most of our time dealing with someone who has done us an enormous wrong. It is the petty wrongs that we have to forgive over and over. A child lies, a coworker takes credit, a friend snubs… These are the constant daily wrongs that call for us to exercise forgiveness and grace. Are they really wrong? Yes. Are they perhaps small? Yes. Do they really need me to exercise forgiveness and grace? Yes. Is that really hard? YOU BETCHA!

Jesus said, “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions.” If you have anything, ANYTHING, Jesus said to forgive it. We recognize that the big, monumental things are difficult to forgive, but how are you at forgiving the daily injustices that you endure. I have a sneaking suspicion that those we see exercising grace and forgiveness in ways that look miraculous to us (because they are) have been practicing on those little things all along.

What little things do you have a tough time forgiving? 

Who do you need to show grace to, whether their offense is big or small? 

Make an effort today to consciously forgive those that wrong you.

Sharla Tilley spends most of her time with her crazy six year old and her awesome husband. She is a writer, storyteller, actress, speaker, starter of projects, and rabid chocolate fan who prays daily that she's not too distracted by every shiny squirrel to follow the path that God has for her.