are you a gracious person?

once you've received grace, what do you do? the bible says that after you've humbled yourself and GOD pours HIS grace into your life HE wants you to be gracious to other people.

i peter 4 says GOD's given everybody a spiritual gift and ability by grace and HE wants you to use that to serve other people. in the phillips translation it says, GOD wants you to be a dispenser of grace.

and graciousness is in short supply in our society. most people are just flat out rude. graciousness is in short supply.

the reason why so few people are gracious is because they don't feel graced, forgiven. when you really understand how much GOD has done for you, and how much you've been forgiven and the fact you wouldn't even be alive today if it weren't for GOD, you wouldn't have your brain that gives you the ability to think, then you will be gracious.

so are you a gracious person? are you a gracious parent? do you parent by grace? do your kids get unconditional praise at home? or is everything based on performance? if they do a certain thing they get the strokes. if they don't do a certain thing then they don't the strokes. some of you have had kids and they're growing up and you just need to accept their uniqueness. some parents don't approve of their kids unless they have the same characteristics the parent does. then they'll like them. maybe GOD gave you some kids who, fortunately, aren't like you. be a gracious parent.

the other thing GOD wants you to do is to share HIS grace with other people. tell them. it's the best news in the world.

you don't have to live under a cloud of resentment and regret. you can be forgiven. if i had the cure for cancer i'd take every dime i had to let people know what it was. i have something better than a cure for cancer. the people that live right next door to you need to hear GOD's grace. share it with them this week. what a gracious GOD we have!

just a thought from the front porch…