...or a compliment, for that matter. One day this week at coffee time, I decided to head out to get myself a cup of tea. I offerred to get one for my co-worker as well if she would tell me what kind she wanted (she can't have caffeine, so I needed to know what her favourite herbal was). She fought me vehemently about it and decreed that I better not get her anything! Hmmm...it was just a cup of tea?! I was left feeling like I would offend her greatly if I did bring her something back. It left me wondering if I don't sometimes have trouble receiving a gift as well. I know I can have trouble receiving a compliment sometimes. I've learned to smile and try to just say thank you, but inside something just fights it. Maybe that's not good. I've been thinking about God's grace...how it's a gift...how it is undeserved....and how we must receive it. Do we receive it as fully as we should? Is there more grace that would pour out into our lives when we received it and said thank you if inside we weren't fighting it because we know we don't deserve it? My 'Devotion for Ragamuffins' said this today:
"Against all the canons of prudence and discretion, Jesus announced the dawn of a new age, the inbreak of a higher righteousness, that he had come to save not the just but the sinners. And the sinner is accepted prior to any statement of sorrow. First comes grace (given tenderness), then metanoia. Real sinners deserving real punishment are gratuitously pardoned: they need only accept tenderness already present. Forgiveness is granted: they need only the wisdom to accept it and repent. These are the poor in spirit whom Jesus declares blessed. They know how to accept a gift. "Come on, all you who are wiped out, confused, bewildered, lost, beat up, scarred, scared, threatened, depressed, and I'll enlighten your mind with wisdom and fill your heart with tenderness that I have received from my Father." This is unconditional pardon. The sinner need only live confidently in the wisdom of accepted tenderness."
The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. Ps 145:8
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