This morning I found myself going back over some earlier postings here in our blog and one submitted by Naida stood out to me..it is in regards to us extending grace to others. I think it was September 17, you will have to go to the archive and click on Sept to find it. The thought came to me as I was reading it, that to extend Hs grace to someone else really counts most when you extend it to some person who has given you the most grief. It might even be another Christian, maybe, maybe not.
I heard a story one time about a man who lived in a certain place in New England I think it was,really doesn't matter. This guy was a real mean character and nobody liked him, couldn't find anything good to say about him or his family, who by the way didn't like each other either. Most of them lived by themselves I gather from the story becasuse of their dislike for each other. But this guy was fairly well off and was a real miser to boot.
And he died. Like everyone else does or will do at some point. So the authorities of that town had to ask the undertaker to prepare him for burial(I guess they didn't go for cremation) and so the undertaker being a fair minded man requested the town's people to at least attend some kind of service. When the good folks of the town had assembled in the funeral parlor the undertaker, trying to give him a decent burial with some unearned respect, asked if somebody would say something nice that they could think of about this man. No one moved. Finally upon pleading by the funeral director, one man stood up and came to the front and stood by the casket. He cleared his throat, shuffled his feet , cleared his throat again, looked up at the ceiling
then back to the man lying there in the casket. He still looked deep in thought. What could he say that was good about this man?Then it struck him like an answer from the blue.
"His brother was worse" he said. Whether this is a true story is not the point, but perhaps if it was and somebody had extended the grace of God to him in his early life ...there would have been a better funeral service. Maybe even a celebration of his life.
AS i SAID , I can't verify the facts of this story but the point is well taken I think.
Jesus said we are to love our enemies and do good to them who despitefully use us. I think that is the point of the posting in September's archives.
I heard a story one time about a man who lived in a certain place in New England I think it was,really doesn't matter. This guy was a real mean character and nobody liked him, couldn't find anything good to say about him or his family, who by the way didn't like each other either. Most of them lived by themselves I gather from the story becasuse of their dislike for each other. But this guy was fairly well off and was a real miser to boot.
And he died. Like everyone else does or will do at some point. So the authorities of that town had to ask the undertaker to prepare him for burial(I guess they didn't go for cremation) and so the undertaker being a fair minded man requested the town's people to at least attend some kind of service. When the good folks of the town had assembled in the funeral parlor the undertaker, trying to give him a decent burial with some unearned respect, asked if somebody would say something nice that they could think of about this man. No one moved. Finally upon pleading by the funeral director, one man stood up and came to the front and stood by the casket. He cleared his throat, shuffled his feet , cleared his throat again, looked up at the ceiling
then back to the man lying there in the casket. He still looked deep in thought. What could he say that was good about this man?Then it struck him like an answer from the blue.
"His brother was worse" he said. Whether this is a true story is not the point, but perhaps if it was and somebody had extended the grace of God to him in his early life ...there would have been a better funeral service. Maybe even a celebration of his life.
AS i SAID , I can't verify the facts of this story but the point is well taken I think.
Jesus said we are to love our enemies and do good to them who despitefully use us. I think that is the point of the posting in September's archives.
posted by Randall | 7:27 a.m.
1 Comments:
I have been in a situation where someone has dispitefully used me. I had to do what I didnt feel like doing at the time and that was to pray for that person. Over the last few months I have begun to see this person in a different light and have been feeling love for them again. Prayer works......its been proven over and over!! God is good!
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