Assuming your family follows the tradition of hanging the stockings by the fireplace, I have one question for you: what do you want in yours? Candy? Chocolate (yes-it's different than candy)? Nail polish? Socks? Coal?
Whoa. That last one. Who would actually want coal? Not me.
Not anyone, right?
I have a simile for you: life is like a stocking-it's either full of chocolate or coal.
Someone else fills my stocking for me, and guess what? Someone else fills my life for me, too. My mom offers me choices of what I will find in my stocking come Christmas Day, and in a similar way God offers me grace, but it's my choice to either receive it or reject it in my life. We choose if we are full of chocolate or coal-love or hate. Forgiveness or fear. Submission or pride.
I'm not saying that God gives us coal, though I do believe that He allows us to choose it. Badness is not of God. Badness is goodness turned awry because of our sinful nature that makes it so. God is goodness and He cannot disown Himself. He cannot change. His nature is love, though He is also sovereign. God has a wrathful side and is the ultimate judge-but judgement is His and His alone. We are called to forgive. The point of this post is God-given grace: do we accept it or not?
I'm not saying that God gives us coal, though I do believe that He allows us to choose it. Badness is not of God. Badness is goodness turned awry because of our sinful nature that makes it so. God is goodness and He cannot disown Himself. He cannot change. His nature is love, though He is also sovereign. God has a wrathful side and is the ultimate judge-but judgement is His and His alone. We are called to forgive. The point of this post is God-given grace: do we accept it or not?
This morning I was listening to the Song of Solomon podcasts from Breakaway this past year, and a quote by Ben Stuart caught my attention: 'When you grab the grace of God, you become a gracious person. Love people because that's what your Dad does. He lets the sun rise on those who mock Him and curse His name'.
Whoa.
God's people throw coals at Him and he pours out chocolate on us anyway.
If chocolate is available to us daily, then why do we always choose coal?
If grace is at my fingertips, then why do I constantly choose judgment? Judgment is not mine. It is not yours. It belongs to God.
The podcast is focused on how to resolve conflict in romantic relationships in a godly way, but I think this lesson applies to all relationships. Christians must be committed to resolve conflict in a godly way, because conflict is unavoidable in a broken world such as one in which we live. Conflict will only be resolved if we love and submit selflessly to each other.
Pride has no place in any sort of relationship-romantic, friendship, family, roommates, co-workers, peers.
God put it on my heart to blog about forgiveness that comes from an understanding of grace through faith. When someone hurts you, how do you respond? Graciously? Do you forgive as you have been forgiven? Do you have a coal-filled stocking or a grace-filled life? Love is not a one-time feeling. Love is a lifetime-choice. It must be consistent and constant.
Are you filling up your life with grace or wrath? Does your stocking have chocolate or coal?
Most of all, what does it mean to love? C.S. Lewis puts it this way: 'To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you'.
I hope that this post blesses whoever needed to read it today.
