THE BLESSING THAT SETS FREE: GRACE

By: Pastor Flávio Macieira - 2025

A reflection from the series "Blessings for the Way."

“Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:32 (NLT)

Justice says, "You owe me." Grace says, "I release you, because He has already released me."

Let's be honest: living in grace is one of the most unnatural things for a human being. Our default setting is meritocracy. We keep mental spreadsheets of the offenses we've suffered, the favors we've done, and the debts others owe us. To forgive, especially when the other person doesn't "deserve" it, feels like an injustice, a weakness, an admission that we are letting the offender "win."

But the apostle Paul turns this logic on its head. He doesn't tell us to draw the strength to forgive from within ourselves. He points us to an external source. The model and motivation for our grace is not the offender's merit, but the memory of our own forgiveness. The logic of the gospel is: because God forgave you of an unpayable debt in Christ, then you become able to forgive the much smaller debt others owe you.

Imagine you have a billion-dollar debt to a bank, an amount you could never repay. Then, the bank's president calls you in and, out of pure kindness, cancels your entire debt. You walk out free! On your way, you meet someone who owes you a hundred dollars. What would your attitude be? To demand payment with interest, or, remembering the immense grace you received, to joyfully release the debtor? To withhold grace after having received so much grace is a spiritual contradiction.

The blessing of being an agent of grace is that by releasing others, we ourselves are set free. Holding onto unforgiveness is like drinking a cup of poison and expecting the other person to die. Bitterness chains us. The grace we extend to another is the key that opens our own cell. Today, God invites us to stop acting as collectors and to start living as distributors of the immense wealth we have received freely.

Your Next Step of Faith

Think of a person or situation where you are withholding forgiveness. Do not focus on the offense they committed. Instead, spend three minutes meditating on the cross and the immensity of the forgiveness you have received from God. Let the gratitude for your own freedom be the fuel to begin releasing the one who offended you in your heart.

The Mirror of the Soul

• In which relationship have you been acting more like a "collector" than a "distributor" of God's grace?

• What is your biggest fear or obstacle to forgiving someone in the same way God has forgiven you?

Prayer

Father, I confess that my heart is quick to demand and slow to forgive. Forgive me for all the times I have forgotten the immense grace you gave me and denied it to others. Fill me with such a vivid memory of Your forgiveness in Christ that grace overflows from me to all those around me. Give me the strength to release, so that I may also be free. In Jesus' name, Amen.

To withhold grace is to live in a prison you locked from the inside.

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