All in one morning: A frozen pipe threatened to release an unwanted gush of water into our bedroom. A dishwasher operated on lukewarm. A mysterious click sounded in the refrigerator door. Not to mention, after several attempts of trying to buy tickets online, I got to the last step only to find a blank screen staring at me rather than the confirmation, “Your purchase has been completed!”
Glitches. First-world glitches, but glitches nonetheless. No matter our culture, malfunctions of all sorts accompany our human activity.
If we’re not careful, we can let glitches consume us. But I think God has something different in mind. We have to go back to the first and biggest glitch of all in order to understand: the Fall of man (Genesis 3). Now that’s a glitch in the system. Life in a fallen world means much of it doesn’t flow as originally intended.
But the glitch has been met with grace. The glitch caused by Adam’s fall from grace has been fixed by Jesus’ death and resurrection. Grace enables us to deal with all those glitches in the system. When confronted with frustrating circumstances, we have a choice to react in anger or stop and ask God for the wisdom and patience we need.
A remarkable thing happens when we choose the latter. We change into something better. Something a little more holy. A little more reflective of our redeeming, gracious Father.
Redeeming Father, thank you for grace. Grace that enables us to meet life’s frustrations. In whatever we are facing right now, I pray you will help each of us look to you for the help we need rather than giving in to anger. Make us more like you, Lord. Amen.
Go Deeper — Do a word search of all the references to “grace” in the Scripture. See how you can apply them to your situations.
Photo Credit: aquachara