Luke 15:31-32

If we struggle to give grace out, we likely have a supply issue in our own lives.

Not because God doesn’t give grace, but because we haven’t filled up on it. Too often we’ve either been so “good” we don’t need it, or so bad we can’t accept it. But grace goes everywhere we do.

Look no further than Luke 15.

• The younger son wanders, and grace sends along an inheritance.

• He plans to earn his way back, and grace sabotages those plans with an embrace and a feast.

• The older son gets angry, and grace goes out and pleads with him.

• He gets caught up in comparisons, and grace reminds him of his resources.

Whether wandering, squandering, returning, fuming, comparing, or just plain living, grace always gives more to us than we take from it. The inheritance doesn’t run out, embrace doesn’t loosen, feast doesn’t end, pursuit doesn’t stop, and its presence doesn’t leave.

Even - and especially - if and when we do.

Grace is abundant enough to show up no matter our opinion of ourselves. But we have to accept that we’re candidates for it. When we do, the unthinkable happens: we stop hoarding grace and start overflowing it.

After a while, we even begin to celebrate and be glad when it gets on other people.