God Gives More Grace

But He gives us more grace.
– James 4:6

During this time of quarantine and ‘social distancing’ many are sharing their movie and book suggestions for others.  I would suggest the classic The Princess Bride (both the movie and the book!).  

If you have not seen the classic tale The Princess Bride you are truly missing out.  It is the love story of a young farm girl named Buttercup and the stable boy turned hero, Wesley.  In the beginning of their story we find that nothing brought Buttercup greater pleasure than to abuse Wesley as she would have him do the most menial tasks. 

“Shine this saddle,” Buttercup would say or “Farm boy, Fill these water buckets.”  Each and every time Wesley would respond to her abusive demands with a simple, “As you wish.”   But over time Buttercup went from abusing Wesley to being curiously changed by Wesley and to her amazement she realized that her heart was melting towards Wesley.  This happened because every time he would say, “As you wish,” she found that what he was really saying to her was, “I love you.”  To Buttercup’s greater amazement, she realized that not only did Wesley truly love her but that she truly loved him!  She was changed by His sacrificial love and faithfully demonstrating to her: my life for yours.

This is the same way Christ is with us.  At first we come to Jesus and we abuse him by cheapening his grace. We want to treat Jesus as our assistant or stable hand, rather than the lover of our soul, our husband, our King.

Yet each and every time we do this we are told He gives us more grace (James 4:6). Over time as he ‘gives us more grace’ and as we grow by his grace we will find ourselves being curiously changed by His grace.  This happens because when he says, “I give you more grace…” we realize that what he really is saying is:  I love you. To our greater amazement we realize that not only does Christ loves us, but truly we love Him.

Prayer:  Almighty God, you have given us Your only Son to be for us our sacrifice.  Give us grace to receive thankfully his redeeming work knowing that He went to the cross to show His amazing love for us.  Amen.  

Dr. Dave Lescalleet serves as the Director Chaplaincy for PruittHealth.