Grace for the weak (a message to my cat)

One of my cats is a chicken!

I’m not saying that he lays eggs, more that he seems to lack any kind of courage when it counts.

Both of our cats were being terrorised by another meaner feline, who had come to take over the neighbourhood. Our older cat (Toosy – don’t ask!), stood guard by our front door every night like an indomitable soldier on sentry duty. The younger one, Reho, vanished every time fur appeared.

Now, years later, Toosy is old, well passed retirement age, and hobbles around the house at half impulse. While Reho still runs away at the sound of anything sudden. The sad thing, though, is that the only creature Reho does attack is the frail Toosy – the one who used to protect him from the local bully.

Toosy has become weak, and Reho has no grace for him.

King David is one of the most fascinating characters in the Bible. He was tough but real. He was deeply flawed, yet very human and with a heart that pleased God.

There is an interesting story about David before he became king. At one time, he faced a terrible situation when his family and the families of his private army were captured by a local tribe called the Amalekites. An immediate rescue was planned but having recently returned from a long journey, 200 of his men were too exhausted to follow him back into battle. The remaining 400 went with him to face a much bigger army.

Miraculously, all returned with no-one harmed and they were even able to loot the enemy soldiers. But as they approached the place where they had left the 200, the murmuring started. They don’t deserve any of the plunder. We did the hard yards, so we get the rewards. They can take their families (who we rescued, by the way) and go.

We don’t have time for weak people.

The 400 said that the 200 did not deserve any of loot because they had not taken part in the fight. To their great surprise, David disagreed. Rather than condemn the 200 for their weakness caused by severe exhaustion, he reminded the 400 that the victory was actually a gift from the God they all believed in. God had given them grace; therefore, maybe the 400 should give grace to their fellow soldiers.

I wonder if you can think of someone who doesn’t deserve something. Someone you work with; someone in your family. Maybe you feel they don’t deserve forgiveness or a second chance. Perhaps what they’ve done (or not done) persuades you to hold back your acceptance or friendship.

Maybe they haven't proved themselves worthy to receive any kind of praise, encouragement or kindness.

I find it helpful to remember that everything I have and everything I am, is actually a gift – I don’t deserve any of it. My life came to me at no cost to me whatsoever.

It is grace from God—and the more I think about all manner of other things I can be grateful for, grace has come to me in bucketloads.

And if the Lord has given me so much of the stuff, perhaps it shouldn’t be hard, at times, to give grace to someone else.  

Is there someone you can give grace to today?

……….

Keep growing in grace

God's grace reminds us that none of us has earned everything we have received. When we recognise how generously God has treated us, we can learn to extend that same grace to people who are struggling, failing or falling short of our expectations.

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