We hurried to a fast-food restaurant to have lunch together on my friend Jerrie’s short work break. Arriving at the door about the same time, six young men got inside just in front of us. Knowing we didn’t have much time to spare, we grumbled inwardly. They stood as a group at both registers to be sure each of them could order first. Then I heard Jerrie whisper to herself, “Show grace now.” Wow! Sure, letting us go first would have been nice, but what a great reminder to think of others’ needs and desires and not only my own.
The Bible teaches that love is patient, kind, and unselfish; it’s “not easily angered” (1 Corinthians 13:5). “It often . . . prefers [others’] welfare, and satisfaction, and advantage, to its own,” wrote commentator Matthew Henry of this love. God’s kind of love thinks of others first.
In a world where many of us are easily irritated, we frequently have occasion to ask God for help and the grace to choose to be patient with others and to be kind (v. 4). Proverbs 19:11 adds, “A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.”
That’s the love that brings honor to God, and He might even use it to bring others thoughts of His love for them.
With God’s strength, let’s take every opportunity to show grace now.
