The grace by which we live

As I read this passage, it reminds me of the importance of remembering the grace by which we live.

We see it first in Jesus’ talk concerning forgiveness. Jesus makes it crystal clear: when a person repents, you must forgive. (Luke 17:4)

To which his disciples replied, “Lord increase our faith.” (5)

In other words, “We can’t do it. We’re not strong enough spiritually.”

But Jesus replied,

If you have faith the size of a mustard seed…you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. (6)

The reality is, we only need only the tiniest amount of faith to do what God calls us to do, even forgive.

Why? Because of who we are putting our faith in. By his grace, he empowers us to do what he asks.

He doesn’t just tell us what to do and then stand back to see whether we’ll succeed or not.

Instead, if we come to him saying, “I choose to trust you. I choose to believe you are good. I choose to believe you want my best,” and we take the smallest step of faith to obey, by his grace, he will move mountains, even the mountains of bitterness and unforgiveness in our lives.

But again, remembering the grace we have received is the key to forgiveness.

In choosing to forgive, it is that same grace which causes us to say, “We are unworthy servants; we’ve only done our duty.”

Like the prodigal son, we are unworthy even to be God’s servants. Rather, what we deserve is to be punished for all our sins.

So when we forgive others, we are only doing what we should in light of all God has forgiven us. It is our duty.

And the more we remember the grace we’ve received though we are unworthy of God’s forgiveness, the easier it will be for us to forgive others when they hurt us.

But there’s one more thing in this chapter that points to our need to remember grace.

When the ten lepers were healed, only one came back to thank Jesus. An important part of remembering grace is having a heart filled with gratitude.

How often, though, do we just take God’s grace for granted? Or worse, we actually come to think we deserve it because of “all we’ve done for him?”

Let us cast aside that way of thinking. Rather, let us instead always have an attitude of gratitude, remembering the grace we’ve received and continue to receive every day.

If we do so, not only will we be able to forgive, but mountains will start to move in our lives as we take the steps of faith God has called us to take.