How to Grow in Grace! With 8 Ways, to Show Each Other Grace!
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In today’s chaotic and stressful world of overwrought emotions and overloaded schedules, we are often encouraged to show each other grace. But what does that really mean? And how can we grow in grace? In this article, we explore what grace is, how to show it, why it matters, and how to grow in it.
What Is Grace?
Merriam Webster’s Dictionary defines grace as this. The first definition says: (a) unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification (b) a virtue coming from God (c) a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine assistance.
The second definition says: (a) APPROVAL, FAVOR (b) archaic: MERCY, PARDON (c) a special favor: PRIVILEGE (d) disposition to or an act or instance of kindness, courtesy, or clemency (e) a temporary exemption: REPRIEVE.
In the Christian faith, we define grace as a gift from God. It is His free and unmerited favor given to those who believe in Him. God’s grace does not depend on our actions or moral character. We cannot earn it and we cannot purchase it.
It is based solely on His desire to give it to us. It is the divine mercy granted by a loving Father for His beloved children. Grace is a divine privilege that comes with favor, sanctification and a complete pardon without time served.
The key tenets of grace are kindness, courtesy, goodwill, compassion, acceptance, regard, esteem, approval, and forgiveness.
As believers, we are called to have a disposition of kindness and compassion as we extend the grace we have received from God to each other. With kindness and compassion also comes courtesy, goodwill, acceptance, regard, esteem, approval, and forgiveness.
We cannot display kindness and compassion without all the key tenets of grace. So how do we show each other grace?
8 Ways on How to Show Each Other Grace
The Bible has a lot to say about how we can share the grace God has given us in our everyday lives. The Bible encourages us to…
1. Show grace by being kind and compassionate.
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Colossians 3:12 NIV
2. Show grace by forgiving those who have hurt or offended you.
Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Colossians 3:13 NIV
3. Show grace by recognizing the value of every person and continually showing love to every believer.
Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers.
1 Peter 2:17 NIV
4. Show grace by using your talents and gifts to serve others.
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
1 Peter 4:10 NIV
5. Show grace by being accepting and non-judgmental towards others.
Judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
James 2:13 NIV
6. Show grace by being humble.
But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
James 4:6 NIV
7. Show grace by remembering no one is perfect.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Romans 3:23-24 NIV
8. Show grace by remembering that you have received grace from God and from others.
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. –
Ephesians 4:32 NIV
Download Your Free Showing Grace to Grow in Grace Journal Here!
Why Showing Grace Matters?
Showing grace is a vital part of humanity. Without it, there is widespread cruelty, malice, hostility, resentment, and bitterness. One person’s decision to show grace to others can create a ripple effect that makes a far-reaching difference.
One of the most significant benefits of showing grace is the happiness it brings. The Dalai Lama once said, “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”
Showing grace through kindness and compassion also has the power to improve mood, boost energy, and increase self-esteem. Some studies have even shown that those who practice kindness, compassion and forgiveness age slower and have less stress in their life.
The most important reason to show grace to others is God commands it in His Holy Word, the Bible!
How to Grow in Grace
Learning to show each other grace is only part of the equation. Growing in Grace as a son/daughter of the King is a lot different from just being a good Christian. You can be a good Christian and still not have a deep relationship with the Holy Spirit, nor know your true identity in Christ.
Somewhere in your heart and mind, maybe you have held on to the belief that you do not deserve to be a son/daughter of the King. You don’t deserve true friendship with Jesus and a deep relationship with the Holy Spirit. Somewhere along the way of life’s journey, maybe you decided you don’t deserve more, you don’t deserve to truly be happy and content in any circumstance.
Do you know how to be a walking testimony? Do you know how to be a son/daughter of the king? How to really let your light shine and be a walking testimony of God’s love and goodness? To go to church because you just want to worship HIM and not because it’s what a good Christian does.
This is all a part of growing in grace and above all, we have to learn to keep God’s desires always before us. Before anything else and anyone else. To grow in grace, we have to keep our focus on God and His divine will for our lives.
To have the mind of Christ, the number one requirement to grow in grace. We cannot grow in grace if our mind is continually carnal in our thinking.
Let’s look at Psalms and see what David had to say about our identity and thinking the way God thinks.
Psalm 16:8-11
‘Because I set you, Yahweh, always close to me, my confidence will never be weakened, for I experience your wraparound presence every moment. My heart and soul explode with joy—full of glory! Even my body will rest confident and secure. For you will not abandon me to the realm of death, nor will you allow your Faithful One to experience corruption. Because of you, I know the path of life, as I taste the fullness of joy in your presence. At your right side I experience divine pleasures forevermore!’
Psalms 16:8-11 The Passion Translation
In being honest and transparent in our writing, dealing with a headache while writing has been a struggle for me lately. In showing grace, Sharla has helped me edit and refine this post.
Sometimes God sends others to help us in what He has called us to do. Being humble in allowing them to speak to us and help us IS showing and growing in grace. And being willing to share what God is speaking to you and through you, as Sharla is doing today, IS showing and growing in grace.
So, I want to share the summary of Psalm 16 that sweet Sharla provided here for you.
David experienced a sweetness with the Lord in his walk with God. He kept God His constant companion and God kept him from corruption of any kind. Corruption is the opposite of grace!
We can fall into offense, anger, and hurt but left unchecked, it can turn to bitterness: the exact opposite of a sweet relationship with Jesus, and grace. Bitterness locks our hearts from love and grace!
Jesus didn’t lock his heart down from grace when he died for us on the cross. He had every right to be embittered. In fact, it’s because of his wounds that you and I experience joy today.
When that spear pierced his right side, grace and mercy spilled to the ground, and today, we are seated with Him in heaven AT his right side.
Grace will always cost us something. It’s part of the suffering of Jesus we conform to. It marks us as a true follower of His. For those who share in his suffering will also share in his glory in heaven.
Sharla Fauver
God designed us to think with the heart and mind of Christ. God’s desires are where we are to set our gaze. When we set our gaze on God and purpose intentionally to do His will, we can grow in grace.
When we allow others to help us in our need and they willingly share their talents with us, as Sharla and I have above. We are being obedient to God by showing and growing in grace.
God’s Grace is Our Motivation
Grace encourages us to live Godly! So we need more grace. We need to focus on grace more if we desire to live in the upright way God’s Word calls us to live. We need to ask ourselves: “When was the last time God’s grace actively motivated me?” Yep, that is one of those questions that stings a bit, doesn’t it?
Showing and growing in grace should be an ever-present, active, purposeful and intentional part of our everyday life. When it isn’t even a thought in our mind, then we have taken the Grace of God for granted and acting like an entitled, ungrateful brat. Yep, I said it. Sorry, not sorry.
Sometimes, the tough things need to be said to wake us up so we can realign our focus with God’s plan. Let’s look at a few scriptures in the book of Titus for a moment. As you read these verses, cast your gaze on the last part of verse 14, “… a people who are his very own, passionate to do what is beautiful in his eyes.”
Are we passionate about doing what is beautiful in His eyes? I know for myself I am not always passionate about showing grace, let alone growing in grace if I am, to be honest. And I will bet, if you are honest, you are not either. I bet if we both get really honest with ourselves; we don’t even actively think about grace in our daily lives. But Oh my friend, we should. Let’s look at what it says in Titus 2.
Grace is a Person
11 ‘God’s marvelous grace has manifested in person, bringing salvation for everyone. 12 This same grace teaches us how to live each day as we turn our backs on ungodliness and indulgent lifestyles, and it equips us to live self-controlled, upright, godly lives in this present age. 13 For we continue to wait for the fulfillment of our hope in the dawning splendor of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus, the Anointed One. 14 He sacrificed himself for us that he might purchase our freedom from every lawless deed and to purify for himself a people who are his very own, passionate to do what is beautiful in his eyes.’
Titus 2:11-14 The Passion Translation
In verse 14, the notes from the Passion Translation say this:
We are a people encircled by God himself. The compound Greek word periousios is translated from “around,” as a circle, and the verb “to be.” It can mean something surrounded by something. It can be charted by a dot within a circle.
As the circle surrounds the dot, so God is around each one of his saints. The circle has the dot all to itself. So God has his very own all to himself. We are unique in that we belong only to him. Uniquely his, we are monopolized by God, taken into himself by grace through faith and surrounded by his love.
The Passion Translation Bible Notes
For Titus 2:11-14, the Passion Translation notes also say,
“… there are four great truths of grace.”
Here they are:
The Passion Translation Bible Notes
- (1) Grace is a person—“our great God and Savior, Jesus, the Anointed One.”
- (2) Grace brings salvation for all.
- (3) Grace educates us on how to live pure lives.
- (4) Grace brings a hope of the manifestation (appearing) of Christ. This is a hope worth waiting for.
Wow! I don’t know about you, my friend, but the four great truths of grace really blew me away. Just seeing grace as the person of God and Jesus really amazed me. I never thought of grace as a person before.
When we think of grace as ‘God our savior and Jesus the anointed one’ it really changes the way we look at grace. The same grace we are to offer to others. The same grace we are to grow in. Have you ever thought of grace in that way before? Leave us a comment and tell us about it.
Again, Sharla has shared some of her wisdom with us here in summarizing Titus 2:
Titus 2:14 tells us some necessary truths we need to remember and then ultimately make our own if we intend to grow in grace:
- Jesus’ act on the cross brought undeserved grace to the world. He made us worthy and heaps favor upon us.
- That act alone, if we are believers, teaches us how to live lives crucified to our flesh, turning our backs on ungodliness.
- As we become conformed to His likeness, we have hope in him that we too will experience his glory.
Sharla Fauver
- He purchased this grace for us so that He could wash us, purify us, and free us from sin; purchasing a people who are passionate to do what is beautiful to Him.
Are you ready to get your ‘grace’ on and be passionate about what is beautiful in God’s eyes? I know I sure am. I want to share a quote with you as I end today from a fellow blogger over at kathyhoward.org where she writes on 15 Characteristics on Grace.
She says this:
“Everything we have, everything we are, and everything we will be depends solely on God’s lavish grace working in our lives. When that truth sinks into our hearts and minds, we will live our lives as grateful responses to the grace God so generously pours out on us.”
Kathy Howard
Don’t you believe Kathy has effectively voiced the way we should reveal and increase in grace, and how we can show our gratitude to God for the unmerited grace He has graciously given to us? I sure do.
Showing grace to others and growing in grace is a practice that does not always come easily, even to believers. It takes awareness and intention to develop the character of grace in our lives. It takes being purposeful and intentional in our daily walk with God. Above all, it takes a relationship with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit through cultivating time in the secret place!
I want to invite you to pick up our 21 Days of Showing Grace to Grow in Grace journal resource. It’s a beautiful journal with 21 journal prompts and prayers to aid in your spiritual growth and development of learning to show each other grace and grow in grace.
I pray this article has blessed you today, my friend. Don’t forget to comment and share with your friends.
Keep showing and growing in grace,
Teresa and Sharla
Download Your Free Showing Grace to Grow in Grace Journal Here!
A few days ago God was talking to me about extending grace to others. I thought I was really doing that but in the areas I needed help was patience. I have literally lost patience with people, and God had to remind me a little kindness goes a long way. So now I have to watch my attitude because I never know what someone is dealing with.
Absolutely Val. In the world today it is easier than ever to lose our patience with people. It is something I struggle with at times as well. Sometimes, I have to say, “Lord please give me grace so I can give grace to them too!”