Monday, March 8, 2010

Out of the Boat ~ A Model for Grace

Webster's Dictionary defines "grace" as "beauty or charm of form, composition, movement, or expression" in its first definition. The second definition states that grace is "an attractive quality, feature, manner, etc." The third definition adds "a sense of what is right and proper, decency, thoughtfulness toward others". It isn't until the fourth definition that "good will, favor" are mentioned.

God's idea of grace, however, is this: "Taking all that Christ was and is ~ his mercy and love, his righteousness and holiness, his power and intelligence, his creativity and wisdom ~ and focuses all of it for the benefit of an undeserving person." In other words, "unmerited favor". Mrs. Clarkson writes, "His serving us in generous love through a loving, humble relationship introduces us to the essence of his personality. His grace changes our lives and is the foundation for our learning to give grace to others in our relationships."

In chapter one of Mrs. Clarkson's book, The Ministry of Motherhood, she begins with the story of Simon Peter. After Jesus resurrected and met with his disciples, He left them alone for a little while. Although he knew that Jesus was alive and had forgiven him for denying him, Peter still returned to his old life of fishing. Peter, James and John had fished all night but hadn't caught a thing. Dejected, Peter drew up the net, ready to call it a day. But then, he heard a voice call from the shore, "Have you caught anything?" "No!" Peter replied. "Then cast your nets on the other side!" the man on the shore suggested. Even though Peter was doubtful, he obeyed. It wasn't until the net became full of fish that he looked toward the shore. John was the first to recognize his Lord, but Peter jumped out of the boat and swam toward the shore to his Master.

Was Jesus standing there, irritated and ready to reprimand his chosen disciple for quitting so soon? Of course not! Instead, He had prepared breakfast for his friends. Jesus was always patient, encouraging, loving and forgiving with His disciples.

From the very beginning, Jesus called his disciples to a life apart from the crowd. He had a great purpose and plan for their lives as his representative that would preach the gospel to every person. He gave the gift of Himself, and then asked them to pass along that gift to the rest of the world, drawing from His strength and grace, not by their own power.

That's what we as mothers can take this lesson of grace to heart. "Like Jesus, we are to draw out own children to a life apart from the rest of the crowd. Each of us is designed by God to whisper his words to the hearts of our children so they will feel the call of God in their own lives to become "fishers of men." Like Peter, our children will never be perfect, and they need their mom to extend them the gift of constant love, grace, and forgiveness. We can't do it in our own strength. The only way we can do this is to rely continually on the grace of our own relationship with the Lord.

Giving the gift of grace is a two-part process. First, we need to help our children receive grace. This is by extending grace to them and by teaching them about God's grace through salvation. Secondly, we must train our children to give grace to others in turn. We can do this by our teaching and example.

"Jesus summed up this two-part process when he was asked to name the greatest commandment. He said we are first to love the Lord God with all our hearts (receiving grace), and then we are to love our neighbors as ourselves (giving grace)."

Mrs. Clarkson shares that we are to "try to be mindful that, to God, relationships are always a top priority." She tries to think of ways to model the redemptive grace and love of Jesus and influences them to extend that grace to others through their actions and attitudes.

Extending grace to my children ~ I like that thought! Like Jesus, I need to be more encouraging and forgiving to my kiddos. I can't do it in my own strength, though. Extending true grace can only come from my own relationship with Jesus!

No comments:

Post a Comment