His Grace reaches me, but who does my grace reach?

I feel so good when I think about all that God has done for me. I think about it often.  Having received something so precious as grace (and understanding it), I can’t help but be moved with compassion to help others.

If we looked at Christianity from a vocational perspective, it would fall under the category of “helping professions”. We have been called to be servants fit for the Master’s use. I don’t think we all see that as our mission. Furthermore, I don’t think we generally look at ourselves as missionaries. There are too many differing views about our purpose.

It is clear to me that God’s grace was given to me that I may make a difference in this world. How big of a difference? That depends on my gifts and how I use them. My motivation? It’s not because the recipients deserve my grace, but because of how freely I accepted God’s grace. In my most difficult times, He reached out and touched me and I can’t help but want to reach out and touch someone else. As a therapist I have heard many, many sad stories and in my lifetime I need not complain. I now know first hand that there is always somebody going through something worse.

Here’s my point: The ability to give is a gift. We were not born giving, in fact it was more the opposite. Giving is a learned behavior and there are some people who are really good at it. There are others who need to learn more about it and then there are those who could care less. God gave us a choice to decide who we would be. I know to some it doesn’t seem like a huge deal to have driven an elderly person to the doctor or paid a bill for someone or even spent personal time in a nursing home. What if just those people with twitter accounts reached out to someone — not for selfish reasons (telling someone off, borrowing money, etc.), but to extend grace? Can you just imagine unconditionally helping someone as a way to tell God thanks? He can.