“Only let your conduct be worthy of the Gospel of Christ, that whether or not I come and see you, I may hear of your activities, that you are standing fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the Gospel.”

— Philippians 1:27

As Christians, what should our conduct with others be like? Well we know that we have a Gospel of grace, and therefore, our lives should be gracious.

I think that many people live lives which are unjust and unfair; they take unfair advantage of people in business or they act unlawfully and unjustly. But there are others who would never think of doing a thing like that and they operate on the principle of equity, of doing the fair thing, of being correct and honest in dealing with people—a quid pro quo, this for that kind of conduct. However, when somebody crosses them and does not deal with them right, then sometimes these people would deal with them like a judge, and they would punish them in some way for their conduct. But that is not the principle of grace.

You can be less than fair, but you can also be more than fair, and it is in that area that the Gospel is not merely fair, it is far greater, vastly higher than merely fair. It is wonderfully high and that means that we need to learn to deal with people graciously, and that we are going to go the extra mile with them. We are going to treat them lovingly even if they have treated us badly, and in that way our lives will adorn the Gospel and be consistent with the Gospel of Christ.

God of grace and mercy, give me strength for today whereby I may show grace to others. I praise You for Your mercy and Your grace in my life. I pray that You will help me to act and be gracious in my dealings with others. Let me give more than is expected, beyond the call…

IN GOD’S STRENGTH,
WE CAN LIVE GRACIOUSLY.