last night my small group started a new study. we will be going through the dvd curriculum of philip yancey’s what’s so amazing about grace? we read a familiar story and one that philip tells in the book:
a prostitute came to me in wretched straits, homeless, sick, unable to buy food for her two-year old daughter. through sobs and tears, she told me she had been renting out her daughter – two-years old! – to men…and made more renting out her daughter for an hour than she could earn on her own in a night. she had to do it, she said, to support her own drug habit. i could hardly bear hearing her sordid story….i had no idea what to say to this women.
at last i asked if she had ever thought of going to a church for help. i will never forget the look of pure, naive shock that crossed her face. ”church!” she cried. ”why would i ever go there? i was already feeling terrible about myself. they’d just make me feel worse.”
the question in the study guide immediately following this asked: why is it so hard to extend grace in this situation?
the problem arises for me in the minor annoyances. for instance, our neighbors are incredibly noisy. people are always coming and going, honking their horns, kids screaming and being screamed at. sometimes they have been loud enough to wake up our kids from their naps (which is always pleasant). this is a minor and common problem, yet i feel more apt to show grace to the child protituter than my neighbor.
my question is, why is it so hard to extend grace? and how have you learned to be grace-full?
Jesus exuded grace – to children, disciples, prostitutes, and executioners. for me, it’s not the fantastically awful people i have difficulty extending grace to, it’s those people who annoy me, or rub me the wrong way.
what practices do you have that help you live more graciously? how have you learned to extend grace like Jesus?
