“He looked beyond my faults, and saw my need.”
These were the words in the song that pierced my heart this past Sunday as we sat enjoying the choir performing the Easter Cantata.
I guess I had never really thought about grace being described like this. How God extended grace to me by looking beyond my faults and seeing my need – my need for a Savior, my need for forgiveness, my need for love, my need for Him.
As I sat there in church on Sunday, my mind started mulling over what this meant for me – how this principle applied to my life. I began to see that faults may not only include sin in our lives, but even things that irritate or bother us about others. Am I extending grace to my family, especially my children, when their “faults” are very real to me each day?
If this is the kind of grace that God extended to me, would it not also be safe to say that this is the kind of grace that I should be extending to my husband, my children, my friends?
Grace that….
Looks beyond the bickering of my children — and sees the need for some loving attention.
Looks beyond the harsh words — and sees someone in need of love.
Looks beyond the petty irritations — and sees someone who needs to be accepted unconditionally.
Looks beyond the bad attitudes — and sees children who need some extra rest time.
Looks beyond the lying and selfishness — and sees someone who needs Jesus.
Looks beyond the spills and messes — and sees a child who wants to create something beautiful.
Looks beyond the accidents — and sees a child who is trying to show me how big he is getting.
Looks beyond the fidgeting and restlessness — and sees someone who needs to get outside and burn some energy.
Looks beyond the clinginess — and sees a child who needs some loving snuggles.
Extending grace does not mean that sin doesn’t need to be addressed in love. But it goes beyond the loving correction to see their need. We can’t just decide to “look beyond” the faults of those around us, we must also make an effort to see their need. Jesus did not overlook our faults, our sin, but He looked beyond our faults and saw our need — the need of our heart.
We all know that our greatest need is to have Jesus living in and through us. But the Lord can use us to be His hands and feet and extend grace to those around us by doing our best to see their need and doing something about it if possible — even if all we can do is point them to Jesus and to the cross.
I want to encourage you today to: Look beyond (fill in the blank) — and see the need.
Let’s lift our eyes to the cross and see how God looked beyond our fault and saw our need — then let’s extend that same grace and love to those around us.
What is it today that you need to look beyond?
Here is a beautiful version of the song that was sung on Sunday morning:
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