The Other End of Grace
As Christians, many of us love to talk about G-d’s grace. We often define that grace to be unmerited favor, or us getting things we did not earn, therefore do not deserve. While some see this as very basic things (i.e. being alive and in our right minds), others tend to emphasize what much of mainstream Christianity promotes, which is not suffering consequences for wrongdoing.
The mainstream approach is wrong on many levels, one being that consequences from our actions is not necessarily a lack of G-d’s grace, but a simple law of nature playing out. If one cheats on their spouse and the spouse finds out, G-d’s grace can be simply in sparing the life of the one who cheated. If the spouse who was cheated on decides to divorce their cheating spouse, that is simply their lives playing out as a result of infidelity.
That is not the focus of this piece, however. My focus is that in all of the grace we attribute to our Heavenly Father, there is another aspect that rarely gets addressed, and that is us being on the other end of grace.
What does that mean?
There are times when G-d’s grace is shown by you remaining in a place of pain, lack, or just plain discomfort for someone else. There is a grace that allows time for those to choose which side they will stand while you are down for the count. There is a grace that allows those to kick you when you’re down, spread rumors about you, and tell you all the reasons why you could just get up “if you only…” instead of helping you. And if it seems you’ve been in such a painful place for so long, that’s grace to allow for those who once spat on you to maybe repent and help you.
Sometimes the grace is G-d about to bless you, but wants as many ships to be on your rising tide as possible, so He gives them a choice. The few who have been helping you will reap the benefits. The ones who have been hurting you will get whatever G-d has for them.
This is more evident to me in this passage in the book of Luke when Jesus was being executed on the cross. There were two criminals being executed with Him. One made one choice, and the other made another.
Luke 32:39-43
One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
I am grateful that neither I, nor none of us reading this article is being executed on a stake. The principle remains the same, however. G-d sees us, and he judges hearts and minds as the one true Judge. Sometimes our suffering has very little to do with us. As incredibly painful as it all may be, G-d has a line in the sand, and is taking note of who is deciding to stand where. Your suffering is their grace.
Stay encouraged. This season will pass. ❤️