Years ago, I heard a story about grace. A dad told a story one time about his teenage son. Each time the dad traveled, the teenage son exhibited horrible behavior while the dad was gone. When the dad returned home, the mother would bring him up to date. Each time, the dad would punish the son by taking his phone away.
Each time the dad traveled he would warn his son to behave himself while he was gone. On one particular trip, the mother called him and told him the son was misbehaving again. The dad determined that when he got home, he would take the son’s phone away permanently.
While flying back, he felt convicted about the son’s behavior and decided to extend grace to him when he got home. He recalled how many times the Lord had extended grace to him. After all, he wasn’t perfect, and he had done things in his life he wasn’t proud of. And yet, the Lord extended grace to him each time.
When the dad returned home, he sat the son down and extended grace to him. He explained the conviction he felt on the plane ride and decided he would not punish him this time. To his surprise, the next time he traveled out of town, the son behaved himself and didn’t give his mother a hard time.
Our verse of the day comes from Joel 2:12-13.
“Yet even now, “declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.”
What can we do?
We are like the dad to who God has extended grace again and again. And we can be like the dad in that we fail to extend grace to others until we remember how often God has extended grace to us.
Is there someone in your life you need to extend grace? Pray about how you will handle the situation.
Thank the Lord for the grace he has extended to you. God is a gracious God full of mercy and love. I am thankful.
Blessings!
The Gospel:
1 Corinthians 15:3-4, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received; that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,”
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