“Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father, to the younger men as brothers, the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters, in all purity.”

In 1 Timothy 5:1-2, we see Timothy addressing his fellow believers with the need to speak to each other with truth, love, and respect. He breaks it down into older men, younger men, older women, and younger women, mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters. This represents a family. He reminds his fellow believers to treat one another as family and with purity when doing so. We hear echoes of grace here. We are never more like Christ than when we view each other through the lens of grace.

I recently went to the eye doctor, who put drops in my eyes before the examination. I marvel at the machine they have that you rest your chin on while all the different lenses rotate around. Then the questions begin, “Is it better or worse? Is one better than two, and is two better than three.” We always try and pick the one that is the clearest. After all, it’s to our advantage that we choose the clearest. Why would we choose the most blurry and unclear? After all, the goal is to see better! 

At the moment of salvation, we begin to see more clearly through the lens of grace. It always goes back to the cross. Christ’s death and sacrifice for us was an overwhelming concept for me. I marveled at how God’s Son could willingly die on the cross for all of mankind’s sins and mine as well. I often have to go back to the moment of salvation and the incredible grace I was shown. I never get tired of the gospel message and how that one act of grace on the cross changed me forever. Still, after I became a Christian, I had two people come to me and tell me they thought I was a hopeless case. By the way, I believe God delights in hopeless cases.

As I grew in my faith, I understood that living out grace is an ongoing process. I not only understood it for myself, but now I had to extend it to others. That’s the tricky part. I fully grasped the “grace for me” part, but extending grace to others was challenging at times. In other words, “grace for me but not for thee.” We Christians love to talk about grace, but find it hard to see others through the lens of grace. We hold one another up to what should be a clear lens of grace, but instead we see all their imperfections and flaws. We even go looking for the flaws. It’s like choosing the blurry lens during the eye exam.

Have you ever said or done something foolish and sinful? I have. Have you ever been shown incredible grace, forgiveness, and love? Have you ever felt the enormous weight of guilt and shame removed because someone viewed you through the lens of grace?

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost, but now I’m found. I was blind, but now I see. This beautiful hymn penned by John Newton defines the transformation we experience when we gain spiritual sight. A sight that transcends all things and brings a clear understanding and comprehension that shows our own darkened sinful nature. It suddenly clears when we recognize the cross and that defining moment; we come to Him in brokenness and repentance. We come away with such joyful clarity of the grace we have received because of the death, burial, and resurrection of our Savior who set us free.

Grace results in a complete turnaround. We receive grace at the cross and then completely turn around to display it to a lost world and one another. Grace is reflected in the way we think, treat, and talk to and about each other. Grace is reflected in our attitudes and in giving each other the benefit of the doubt. Grace is reflected when we choose to forgive each other.

This reflection of grace should be seen, especially in the church family. Let’s give others the gift of grace; after all, a lost world is watching. Choose the lens of grace, and your spiritual sight will be magnified and enhanced.

“Grace has to be the loveliest word in the English language. It embodies almost every attractive quality we hope to find in others. Grace is a gift of the humble to the humiliated. Grace acknowledges the ugliness of sin by choosing to see beyond it. Grace accepts a person as someone worthy of kindness despite whatever grime or hard-shell casing keeps him or her separated from the rest of the world. Grace is a gift of tender mercy when it makes the least sense.”— Chuck Swindoll