Let your conversation be gracious.
—Colossians 4:6
Four-star General Peter Chiarelli, Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, attended a formal White House dinner in dress uniform. A senior advisor to President George W. Bush mistook the general for a waiter and asked him to get her a serving of hors d’oeuvres. When a nearby associate pointed out her faux pas, she was horrified. The general abated her embarrassment by graciously—and cheerfully—returning with the goodies.
The word gracious has the same root as grace. It carries the meaning of kindness and courtesy.
Because we are recipients of grace—“it is by grace [we] have been saved” (Eph 2:5)—we should also be givers of grace. We sometimes encounter Christians who are anything but gracious—especially in their judgment of brothers and sisters whom they consider less enlightened than themselves.
Leave a footprint of grace
with every step you take today.