Embracing His Grace and Showing It to Others

This week, I had the privilege of sharing a little devotional with one of our ministry groups here at the church. As I pondered what to share, the Lord put on my heart this idea of embracing and showing His grace.

The scripture that the Lord led me to was the story of the woman who had been caught in adultery. If you aren’t familiar with it, I would encourage you to take some time to read it. It’s found in John 8:1-11.

If you are familiar with the story though, you know that this woman obviously understood grace. One minute she’s on the verge of losing her life and the next she’s walking away with an opportunity to leave her old life of sin behind.

I am someone who can relate to this woman. Even though I grew up in a Christian home, when I was in the Marine Corps I fell hard in my relationship with the Lord. So much so that I actually had a roommate say to me, “It’s hard to believe you were ever a Christian!”

Talk about a wake up call. It was those words that helped me, over time, give my life back to the Lord. And after realizing how far I fell, I have embraced His grace with everything I have.

Now my wife’s story is a lot different from mine. Stacy was one of those who grew up in church and pretty much served the Lord her entire life. She was a rare teenager that often obeyed her parents and never really caused them trouble. As a matter of fact, her mom would tell you that she was the easiest teenager of all 5 of her kids.

The thing is, Stacy will tell you the challenges this brought for her when it came to embracing grace. Since everyone always told her what a good girl she was—she actually began to believe it.

She knew she wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t until she was in her mid-twenties that she realized that her sin was no different than anyone else’s sin: that regardless of how good a person she had been: she was still a sinner and she needed God’s grace just as much as the adulterous woman in John 8. If we want to be people who embrace God’s grace, we must first realize our need for it. Romans 3:23 reminds us that we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of the Lord. When we understand this truth, it enables each of us to embrace His grace and then show that same grace to others.