Dispensing Grace

"Think but how vile a spectacle it were

To view thy present trespass in another

Men's faults do seldom themselves appear;

Their own transgressions practically they smother."

                                                                                                         ~ Wm. Shakespeare

In this blog, I speak much of God's grace and our need for it.
But have you ever thought about what a 'grace-filled' Christian might look like?

The first step in seeing what a Grace-filled, Grace Dispensing Christian is, would be learning that Christianity isn't rules.
Christianity is knowing you are a sinner and in need of mercy.
The second step is realizing that everybody you know is in the exact same situation.
Only then can we begin to look at the world and everyone in it with 'Grace-Tinted Lenses.'

Within the Body of Christ, more specifically the local church, I've seen many who could see the sin in other people; yet, not once could they ever see their own sin.
They have not yet learned the two steps to dispensing grace.

I often wonder when thinking of the above situation if it ever occurs to people that the local church is supposed to be the one place where everyone should be able to 'be honest' in all areas.
What I have seen is the opposite; a place where much Pharisaical actions take place and much phoniness occurs.
Many put on their best front and brave the crowds at the congregation; but this isn't grace, nor is it reality.

Grace is a light from heaven itself which penetrates through the cracks of life.
No cracks, no light; no light, no grace.

The local church ought to be a haven for people who feel terrible about themselves and what they've done in their lives with regards to sin.
But this feeling shouldn't come from other sinners; for, we should all feel this way sometimes.
We should feel this way in the church because we have come to the Body of Christ to be in the presence of Christ, His people, His Spirit and relearn His gift of grace.

In life, whatever we have done which makes us feel superior with regards to others is not grace and it never will be.
Have  you ever noticed who Jesus spent most of His time with?
It was in the company of sinners, prostitutes and tax collectors; people whom the world rejected and were told even God Himself would reject.
Yet, when God was on earth, instead of rejecting them - He welcomed them in grace and forgiveness.

If we are to seek to be the Church in our local areas Jesus Christ would have us to be, we too must welcome the same in love, grace and forgiveness.

To put it crudely, the Grace of God through our churches and our lives should be "on tap" as beer is in a saloon.
Sin seems to flow freely; why shouldn't grace as well?

In my studies on grace, I have learned that one of the greatest grace-dispensing organizations is Alcoholics Anonymous.
AA centers itself on two things: Radical Honesty and Radical Dependence on one another.
If you look back to the early church, these were the two things that every Christian depended on in themselves and one another.

But just as we have lost the power of the early Church, who evangelized the known world in 3 centuries; we have also lost the radical honesty and dependence on one another out of the simple fear of being hurt by those whom we call our 'brothers.'

One thing we tend to forget regularly is the fact that people who often seem to have it all together, don't. 
Just think of those who gathered around the Lord's Table on the night He was betrayed; every one of them was thought by the followers to 'have it all together.'
But in fact, their faith was faltering and weak, just as ours can be; when the time came, they fled from the Lord's presence and left Him alone to be taken away.

Maybe their failure that night always haunted them when trials came upon others and they failed in the early years of the church, the apostles would ooze forgiveness and grace.
For, in the end, they had each received God's grace in monumental proportions; as each one of us seeks to receive as well.
Given our failures and falters in the faith, what else can we offer of any value than grace?

Of grace, Scripture teaches us that God loves us because of who He is; not because of who we are or what we have done.
Dispensing grace through our lives is simply loving others as God has loved them.
In this, that which we have received we are to share; give away the grace you have been given and bless another with it for the glory of God.

Until Next Time, win one for the good guys.