I was sitting in my bedroom one solitary night, thinking and meditating on the truth of God’s Grace and how He can demonstrate this same Grace to others through me. In other words, how am I to be gracious to others just like Jesus is? This was when Jesus revealed to me how His Grace works in the lives of many – yours and mine.
Why is it that some of us take such a long time to overcome the issues of life? This question and others following will be answered as you read along. The truth Jesus revealed to me is astounding in the sense that it’ll hopefully make us understand how He operates in our lives. However, His revelation to me may not go down well with some of us. Whatever He reveals to each one of us can be different because there are many sides to His Grace & my revelation is just one of them.
Have you noticed how we can be so controlled in one area of our lives and not so in other areas? Think of some areas of concern that you have right now and compare it to an area of your life that you won’t even give a second thought. For example, someone has a struggle with jealousy but that same person does not even have to crack their head over drug abuse because it has never been an issue. Why? On the other hand, someone has a struggle with jealousy but that same person also has a struggle over drug abuse yet one struggle is more complicated than the other. Again….why?
When we’re able to answer the above questions, we’ll see Jesus’ Grace in those situations. Jesus is very gracious in that, if you notice, He does not let us handle too many issues all at one shot. He gives us time to handle them one at a time, day to day. Once we have mastered one area of our lives, then we have the added strength and knowledge to tackle other areas. If Jesus were to let us overcome our issues all at once which He is perfectly capable of doing, we will suffer burnout because we’re humans. Out of His concern and boundless love for us, He will not let us go through it all at one go.
Yet, there are those who do try to deal with all their issues at one go in their own strength. This is when they have nervous and mental breakdowns – something which Jesus never intended. Yet, they can reach a turning point in their lives once they refocus their lives on Jesus again.
This is why some of us who struggle with issues of jealousy, pride, anger, envy & a whole host of other sins seem to take a longer time to get over them because Jesus is dealing with other issues first in our lives. Jesus chooses which issue is His priority in that person’s life based on that person’s character & personality.
It is also dependent on that person’s responsiveness to Jesus’ dealing in their lives. If they do not succeed in a certain struggle of their life, Jesus will focus His attention on another area that they can handle with His strength. Then, He will go back to deal with that struggle again. Here we see how Jesus honours the choices we make. He respects us that much despite our backgrounds.
Are you beginning to see His Grace in action? Can you see why He is able to be so patient with us and we are not? He understands the human heart and not just any heart – it’s yours and mine. Only, He knows what goes on in our hearts and minds. Doesn’t it make sense for us then not to judge others? Yet we still do. Why? The devil is around, prowling around like a lion and he always uses the tactic of comparing our lives with those of others and when we see something we don’t have a struggle with but the other person has it, human nature says: “Don’t be patient with that person. He/she is so much worse off than you. Do all you can to change that person.” This is where humility from Jesus needs to be in us so that we know how to deal with such situations.
Certain situations that have people really struggling with issues and you notice they’re not doing anything about them calls for rebuke (the righteous kind) that gets them going full steam ahead to make changes themselves. Such rebuke is possible only if it’s wisdom from Jesus. Again the devil is around and he transmits thoughts like radio waves into our minds to give the wrong type of rebuke.
It only makes sense to learn from Jesus by putting Him first in our lives. Even that is a struggle for some of us. Yet, because of how His Grace works, it also makes sense why we need not crack our heads if we don’t meet His requirements because He knows that in the ‘next round’, He has faith that we’ll succeed.
With GRACE, everything ties in nicely – strength, knowledge, concern, love, character, honour, respect, patience, humility, wisdom & faith (as mentioned in bold above) – qualities of the Christian life, all emanating from Jesus Himself.
I then asked Him how do I deal with someone who I love very much without condemning them. He revealed it in His Name –
J udge not
E mbrace him/her
S urrender the situation to Jesus
U nderstand the person you’re dealing with
S ay sorry when necessary
Is it easy to do the above? No. Yet, it’s possible because nothing is impossible with Jesus. If someone I love has wronged me or done something I disapprove of, the first thing to do is not to judge but to embrace him/her. At the next available moment when I’m alone, I should immediately surrender the situation to Jesus before the devil can take a foothold. Once that is done, Jesus helps me to understand the person I’m dealing with and when necessary, I should say sorry without expecting an apology from the other person. Yet, if Jesus is given first priority here, it’s definite that He will stir the heart of the one whom you love to say sorry, too, when necessary and it may not be on the same day but it does not matter. Jesus knows best.
Finally, to sum it all up, Jesus gave me this conviction – if we make the effort to spend time with Him, He promises to reveal more and more truth. Hallelujah!