Grace and Peace

I heard Rob Bell speak the other day about grace and peace. To be honest it didn't really affect me the first time I heard it.

The last couple of days I have thought about what others receive from me. I mean in terms of what kind of feeling do they have when they're around me. Do I project something that makes them frustrated or anoyd or confused? I think sometimes I do.

I'm amazed by people that are easy to be around. I know quite a few people like that. No matter what mood I may be in I enjoy being around them.

All of this is interesting to me but not the destination where this thought process ended. I began to think about how I really treat people. Due to several things happening in my life right now I began to think about what I base my actions and more importantly my reactions on.

It was then that I went back to the message by Rob Bell. He was talking about the grace and peace that Paul spoke about at the beginning of almost all of his letters. A grace and peace that had been shown to him. A grace and peace that Christ showed on the cross when he asked His Heavenly Father to "forgive them for they know not what they do". That kind of grace and peace.

Rob talked about being so enveloped by this grace and peace that it's always at the end of our tongue. I want to be that way. I want to live my life with "no condemnation" and to share that with everyone. The person that I hate, the person that has treaded me unfairly, the one that wouldn't reach out to me when I needed it. All of these people that I have mentioned are under "no condemnation" except from me!

I have a bad habit and I imagine some of you have the same habit. I secretly compare how good I think I am to how bad I thank others are. I don't look at everyone this way - I think - but mostly those who I struggle with. I was thinking about this last night. I realized that I put them below me. I end up thinking myself better than them. I can't change them, but I can change me! I so glad God opened my eyes to this.

Discovering a world where we could all live in peace and grace would be incredible. God calls us to that for sure. I want to have it on the tip of my tongue and forget why I hate that person, forget being mistreated, forget being ignored and then remove condemnation from my heart.