Learning to give grace will change your life. This a lesson that I have been learning over the past semester, thanks to constant reminders from a dear friend. It will change your feelings, the way you think and act and the way you treat and remember people. Grace is a powerful thing.
The reason grace is so powerful is because of bitterness. Bitterness is something that we all struggle with. Bitterness is dangerous because it is built up inside us, and most people hide it well, until they blow up.
When you are bitter towards someone, you hold something against them. Maybe they hurt you or someone you love. Maybe they have what looks like the perfect life (no one ever does) and you are jealous. Maybe you feel left out or forgotten. All of these things do nothing but tear you apart.
When bitterness takes a hold of any part of your life, it can control so much. It can control how you think. You act in ways you are not proud of. You hurt other people just as much as you were hurt. Bitterness can ruin your mood and attitude, robbing you of any happiness or joy. It can steal your time, your energy, and your heart.
One aspect of bitterness that I never saw until a friend pointed it out is its ability to control your memory. Bitterness can make you look back with hatred on people or relationships in your life that really weren’t all bad. Maybe that person is a high school friend who wronged you or an old employer or professor who did not treat you fairly. Maybe it is a failed dating relationship or marriage. If you hold bitterness against them, bitterness will start to taint your memory.
The only way reconciliation can come is through grace. Giving someone grace means you are pardoning them. You are no longer holding something against them, which means you are no longer bitter. Giving people grace and letting go of any bitterness is so freeing.
To me, Jesus Christ is the ultimate example of grace. Instead of holding the sins of the world against his people, he pardoned us with his own blood. He sacrificed himself to give us grace, even though he is the only one to ever live a perfect life. He never did anything worthy of the treatment he received, death on a cross. Jesus paid the ultimate price to show the whole world grace. He offers grace to us and all we have to do is accept it.
Maybe there is someone you need to show grace to like an old friend, a parent, a sibling, an employee, a spouse or anyone in your life you are holding bitterness against. Maybe you need to show yourself grace for something. All too often we beat ourselves up for something we did or said. Don’t waste any more time being bitter, choose to give grace.
