There is a phrase that the apostle Paul uses to open most of his letters,
“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
It’s a phrase that often flies under the radar—probably because one doesn’t really settle into paying attention until one is past the greeting. However, Paul’s greeting of “grace and peace” is loaded with all kinds of good stuff. So much so that I’ve decided to use the theme of “grace and peace” as a focus for my 2009. Why? Well, simply put I could sure show more grace and live with a little more peace. Let me give you an example.
While Suzi was in surgery (my wife Suzi recently had knee surgery) I was in the waiting area…waiting, when in came a weird dude with his wife so she could check in for surgery. I say weird because he was walking around pretending to read the Braille on all of the signs, he was just flat out being weird. So upon seeing this guy I had entirely written him off just because of one thing I saw him do—I didn’t extend to him much grace. Well, guess what happens? This man’s wife end’s up having almost the same identically surgery that my wife Suzi had, with the same exact surgeon. Oh, it gets even better. Later that day after Suzi had been settled into her room we find out that she is going to have a roommate and you guessed it, it was this strange guy and his wife! And who says that God doesn’t have a sense of humor? But here is the kicker, the guy’s name is Tom.
Now when all of these things were coming to my attention I was immediately reminded of the sermon I had heard the day before from Sunday (Sunday Goshit had preached for me the day before) about remembering that everyone is made in the image of God. This man was made in the image God and I had chosen to not to extend grace to one made in the image of God—and someone to whom God had chosen to extend grace to. I had seen one moment in a man’s life and had written him off…like I knew his whole story. So not only did I not extend him grace, but I was not at peace with him. Why did his actions bother me so much? He may have been acting weird but I do too.
Do you see why I need more grace and peace in my life? Do you see why the apostle Paul opens so many of his letters with the phrase, “grace and peace?” How can Christ followers be influencers in this culture if we are going to look at people and assume we know who they are? How can we as Christians share the grace of God with the world if we are not able to extend grace with the people that we come in contact?
So the next time you meet a person on the bus, in your favorite store, at work, or sitting next to you at church (don’t be shocked, it will happen) remember that you don’t know their whole story. There is a reason why they are doing what they are doing. Instead of classifying them as strange, weird or just plain crazy why not instead extend to them grace and live at peace with who they are.
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