Vital signs- Saturday, September 10th, 2022

People Need Grace Now More Than Ever

To make it through crisis seasons or social unrest, you need to treat yourself and other people the way God treats you: with grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

Grace means that God always gives you what you need, not what you deserve. If you got what you deserved, you wouldn't even be here. “God gives us even more grace, as the Scripture says, ‘God is against the proud, but he gives grace to the humble’” (James 4:6 NCV).

God opposes the prideful and arrogant because they think they can do it all by themselves, apart from God. They don't think they need God or his grace. They approach life—even life in turmoil—with the mindset, “If it's to be, it's up to me.”

But when you’re humble and admit that you can’t make it through difficult situations on your own, God opens the floodgates of heaven. He pours out his grace. And he expects those who have been shown amazing grace to then show that grace to others.

Everyone has gone through tough times. To maintain your emotional health, you need to cut yourself some slack and do the same for others. People are feeling stressed, particularly the millions who are out of work and concerned about the future—maybe even about how they will make it to the next day. Be kind and gentle. Even the hardest people to love are fighting some kind of battle right now and need your grace.

This will often take a lot of humility. When tensions are high, it’s easier to return wrong for wrong, give a sharp answer, withhold the benefit of the doubt, and speak before listening.

Your neighbor needs your grace. Your children need your grace. The person you disagree with politically needs your grace. The world is on the defense, and there is nothing that will disarm people more than being given unexpected grace.

God has given you great grace. Go and extend that grace to others so they get a glimpse of what Jesus has done for them.