Grace, mercy, and forgiveness–these are words that have significant meaning, yet we can toss them around without realizing how much they can transform our own lives if we are willing to receive them from God first.  

What I’m realizing is that it’s in this receiving of God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness where we grow a greater desire to give grace, mercy, and forgiveness away to others. God transforms our hearts when we accept these free gifts for ourselves first.  

I don’t know about you, but in the past I have been guilty of believing that God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness are available in bulk supply for others and even remind them of this only to completely turn my back on receiving the unending supply God has for me.  

Grace is getting something you don’t deserve. And mercy is NOT getting what you do deserve. These gifts are so counter culture, aren’t they? I don’t know too many people who are standing in line to give away something to someone that they don’t deserve. And it’s certainly not our default button to extend mercy and ensure that someone doesn’t get what they do deserve.  

If we’re honest, I think we all struggle with both receiving from God and extending to others grace, mercy, and forgiveness. We may feel as though something we’ve done is too bad or a mistake we’ve made is too big for God’s grace. But that’s not the case! We may tell ourselves there’s no way we could extend these gifts to others, particularly those who have hurt us or those close to us so deeply.  

We have to remind ourselves of something we can be so quick to forget. Oh how I struggle with this one. God sets the standard as the giver of unending grace, mercy, and forgiveness. And in gratitude for these free gifts we’ve received from God, He changes our hearts to give these gifts more freely to others in return. Is it easy? I’m afraid not. Is it a process? You can count on it. But is it worth it? Absolutely! If you’ve never accepted God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness for yourself, you have a choice to make that will forever change your life. I want to encourage you to take this step today.