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Unmerited blessings—or grace according to the dictionary—is the unmerited favor we receive from God. We know from a biblical perspective that grace is a blessing that we don’t deserve. It is God’s grace that justifies us, and eventually glorifies the believer in heaven. You may be educated, experienced, and talented, but you will never fulfill God’s purpose for your life until you are endowed with his grace.

Pastor, speaker and author Max Lucado writes in his book,“Help Is Here,” about an encounter his wife had at the supermarket. She noticed a lady at the supermarket being pushed in a wheelchair by her teenaged children. The lady was breathing supplemental oxygen tube through a tube in her nose.

Lucado said that his wife felt prompted to help the lady as she waited at the checkout counter and the Holy Spirit led her to pay for the woman groceries. His wife’s act of kindness is an ideal example of grace or unmerited blessings.

Those who are in leadership positions must depend on God’s unmerited blessings to affect the best in their organization. Leaders need team members to accomplish their goals; however, it is God’s grace that can ensure that these goals are accomplished. Grace works beyond our full understanding.

It is said that “God looks beyond our faults and see our needs.” What does grace do for humanity? Grace gives us a new life which is not condemned by God. It is through God’s grace we are forgiven and our thinking transformed, resulting in the renewal of our mind and heart. Through grace we live the kind of life that God would desire everyone to experience.

I equate one of Abraham Lincoln’s great quotes to the true meaning of grace. He said, “I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have.” The clarion call is for us to live up to the blessings that have been extended to us by expressing “acts of kindness” to the least of God’s people.

So let all of us show our spirit of kindness to others even though they might not have earned or deserved it and receive blessings that are beyond our understanding. Never Give Up!  Never Give Up! Never Give Up!

By Dr. Walter Ghosten
chaplain@lhp.net