Moments for Moms

The Grace Challenge

Key Scripture: Leviticus 19:16–18

“Do not spread slanderous gossip among your people.

“Do not try to get ahead at the cost of your neighbor’s life, for I am the Lord.

“Do not nurse hatred in your heart for any of your relatives.

“Confront your neighbors directly so you will not be held guilty for their crimes.

“Never seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”

Mom’s Reflection

With thousands of Israelites trudging together through an unknown wilderness, a plan for civility was essential. The people had a long way to go, and they would never make it to the Promised Land if they turned on one another. So in the book of Leviticus, God provided laws for dealing with both people and circumstances. As you can see from the brief passage just quoted, those laws of civility and decency were not always easy ones to follow. Yet if we as mothers were to employ even a few of these laws in our relationships today, we would be so much better for it!

As Christians, of course, we are no longer under the rule of Levitical law; we are under grace, thanks to Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross for us. As recipients of God’s glorious grace, then, we ought to be showering grace on others in turn. And what does grace toward others look like? I think it looks a lot like today’s passage. Guarding our mouths from gossip, forgiving, not holding grudges—all of these are practical ways we can shed God’s grace on the people around us. Let’s teach our kids, through our words and our example, to reflect on the goodness of God’s wonderful grace and, in turn, to offer that grace to others.

My Thoughts

In what ways do I need to show God’s grace toward others in my life?

My Prayer

“God of grace and mercy, thank You for pouring Your grace on me through the sacrifice of Your Son. I praise You that through faith in Jesus, I am forgiven. Help me now to forgive others. Guard my mouth from gossip and my heart from grudges. Teach me to be a conduit of Your grace, so that grace flows freely through me to my family members and all the other people in my life. Thank You for Your Word and the direction it gives for living and loving in grace. In Jesus’ Name I pray, amen.”

This week I’m praying for:

My Choices

This week I will choose to focus on God’s great love and grace toward me.
This week I will choose to show grace toward others.
This week I will choose to ask God’s help in guarding my heart and mind.
This week I will choose to:

For Further Reading: Ephesians 4:28–32

Lord, give us grace and strength to forbear and to persevere. Give us courage and gaiety and the quiet mind, spare to us our friends, soften to us our enemies.
―Robert Louis Stevenson

Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness.
―Westminster Catechism

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