How Do You Define Grace?

Read James 4:7-12  

In verse 6, which directly precedes our passage today, James tells us that God gives us grace. That is why we “submit, then” to God. One reaction to God’s merciful kindness to us and the undeserved favor that we receive, should be to recognize and repent for our sinful actions. We turn back to God. We are to become humble and in doing so, grow closer to God. If we are honest with ourselves, we know that whatever we do, we can’t earn God’s grace. What we can do is to follow the path back to God. We walk the path of the prodigal son back to our Father, who always rejoices and welcomes us.

Isn’t it interesting, then, that directly after James reminds us to become humble, that he needs to remind us that it is not our job to slander or judge others? Our humility contrasts with our judgment. Sometimes our eyes stray to what others are doing. When reprimanded as children, we try to justify ourselves that “so-and-so was doing it too!” We prefer to take our eyes off our own sin to remind others that they need to repent as well.  But growing in Christ-likeness means that our focus should remain on ourselves. We do not and should not sit in the judgment seat.

Often, we don’t see the full picture of someone else’s struggle. God, who does see the full picture, is the only good Judge. He has the power to judge. Our job is to keep our eyes fixed on Him, to choose to follow Him, and to extend his merciful kindness to others when we can.

FOR REFLECTION:

• How does a proper awareness of our standing before Christ impact how we treat others? 
• What can you do when you’re tempted to judge someone else to reset your mind so that your eyes are focused on Christ? 

by Megan Hendricks