Wednesday, July 1, 2015

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.



3 comments:

  1. Forgiveness was hard(er) until I had kids. I wanted to show them unconditional love and not hold grudges against them. That's not to say that it still isn't hard, but the desire to extend grace to them is there more with my kids then with any one else. It's the adults who wrong me that I have a harder time forgiving...the wrongs seem to personal (whether they are or not). Good thoughts, Sharla!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Holly! I think with my kiddo, I'm quicker to anger and quicker to forgive. (Really working on that "quicker to anger" part!) I think adults can be harder to forgive because I feel like they should know better. But we all mess up. If I can really figure out forgiveness, I know it will only make my life better!

      Delete
  2. Love this post and your site. Found you through blog hop Tuesday. Bless you see you back around here in August.

    ReplyDelete

Hey!! We LOVE hearing from our readers and fellow Church Chicks! Please leave a comment to let us know you stopped by!