“I’m done giving them grace.”
Thanks to _gee_ for the image.
When is the last time you thought (or said) that to yourself?
“Such-and-such person keeps doing this and that to me. I’m done forgiving them.”
If I recall, Christ gave you a second chance. And me. And everyone you see and rub shoulders with every single day.
In fact, there isn’t anyone you’ll see today that Christ didn’t die for. Wrap your brain around that one.
But some days it’s easy to just say, “I’ve had enough. I’m done.”
Check out a snippet of what Sarah Cunningham, author and blogger, has to say about being a Person of the Second Chance:
Letting go did not come natural to me.
There was stuff in my background that made not tracking other people’s offenses counter-intuitive.
But I really and completely let it go.
And it felt FABULOUS. (Still does.)I even threw 50 fancy musings on forgiveness into my first book from my learning.
They were genuine insights then. Still are.
But…I still struggle (honest translation: fail) to apply them in these other two situations.
(Can you sense the hypocrisy yet…?)As it turns out, given the right circumstances (and I mean, the WRONG circumstances), my mercy can still (even after all this learning) operate on a light switch that goes on and off with a flick of my pointing, accusing index finger.
For this, mercy on.
For that, mercy off.
I’m like the forgiveness clapper.
Yowza. Does any of that describe you? It does me. Big time.
Catch up with Sarah’s full article called People of the Zero Chance. You should also check out the People of the Second Chance, too.
Jesus follower.
Comment by Sarah on January 20th, 2010
Hey, thanks for the link, Shawn. If you're up for being part of a blog tour, please feel free to stop by my site and click on the slider bar for details. :) Thanks again! Blessings on your work, man. Good stuff.
Comment by dubdynomite on January 20th, 2010
Think about this. Jesus asked his father to forgive the very people who were in the process of killing him.
It makes some of the things we hold against people seem petty.
Comment by Shawn Wallace on January 20th, 2010
Thank you!
Comment by Shawn Wallace on January 20th, 2010
At the time, our grudges seem large enough to be world-ending unless we get that last jab in, or feel dignified in cutting them off from grace. Quite scary to think that God had that opportunity and, instead, became flesh to prove how much he loved us and how badly he wanted to show us mercy.