A Christian Devotional on Extending Grace
We have all met people in our lives who were hard to like or get along with. Many times, we try to avoid them or ignore them, but is that really biblical? Should we really treat people as if they are some ghost or a waste of space? Of course not! They are people too.
The fact that someone is hard to like or get along with should be all the more reason to extend grace to that person. Behind that personality you dislike there is someone with real human emotions who may feel neglected, depressed, or maybe even suicidal.
Oftentimes behind that person’s fake smile is someone who has suffered abuse, trauma, abandonment, and many other unspeakable horrors that this unfair world has put them through. This isn’t because they are a bad person or committed some great sin, but it is simply the hand they were dealt in life. Why would you not want to be your brother or sister’s keeper and ease their burdens for just a second?
Think back to the time you met somebody extremely prideful, and you disliked them for it. After all, it is an extremely easy trait to dislike in a person. Then think about how you handled your interaction with them.
Did you try to humble them? Did you insult them? Did you gossip about them?
Most of the time when we dislike someone, we will do these things, but how about instead extending grace to that broken soul and letting the light of Christ fill their brokenness.
It is not our place as Christian’s to be the judge, the jury, or the executioners for the people we dislike. In fact, that job belongs only to the sovereign God.
You never know what a person is going through, so before you judge them don’t just walk a mile in their shoes, walk two. Then after you do that, extend grace to them through prayer continuously so God can meet their needs and help grow them to be a better Christian.
The next time you see somebody who is hard to love, extend grace to them because oftentimes the hardest people to love are the ones who need love the most.