Extending Grace
April 7
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not
without effect.
1 Corinthians 15:10
As Jim looked across his desk at Levi, he silently asked God for the wisdom
to handle this situation. He’d received several calls from customers that recent
orders had been missing multiple items.
Myron from Harvest Equipment had called a few minutes earlier to let
Jim know that five different parts had been missing from his order. Jim humbly
responded, “I’m sorry for the inconvenience, Myron. Tell me what parts were
missing, and I’ll ship them to you overnight, no freight.”
Jim had discovered that Levi had been sent home two days ago, midshift,
for drinking on the job. Seventeen orders he had sent out had been shipped
incomplete. Jim was deciding what to do. He had every right to fire Levi on
the spot. But he’d been twenty-one once and remembered an opportunity he’d
been given to make good on a poor choice. He talked to Levi about good
character and how hard it is to restore once people witness one too many of
our poor choices. Jim decided to give Levi another chance and extended God’s
grace to someone in desperate need of it.
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Jim was not hasty in dealing with Levi. He had never forgotten how God
had extended His precious grace at a crucial time of rebellion in his own life.
Without that grace, Jim might never have recognized how dangerous the road
was he had started down.
Paul never forgot God’s grace either. He spoke openly and often about his
past in a plea for people to stop judging harshly. His instruction to the church
at Corinth was to reveal to them how God’s grace not only saves, but also how
it can bring about tremendous change in a person’s heart. We have all been nec-
essary recipients of that grace. How can we, in light of that knowledge, refuse
to extend it to those who are perishing?
Prayer
“God of mercy, we ask Your forgiveness for the times we have
been stubborn and possessive with something so powerful
as Your grace. Teach us to be humble; show us how to walk
in grace so that we might extend it to others. Amen.”
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