Proverbs 11:16
A gracious woman retaineth
honour: and strong men retain riches.
A
gracious woman. What does that
mean? The word gracious can conjure up
all sorts of images. One could think of
a 1950's homemaker dressed in her pumps and starched dress entertaining her
husband’s business associates. This is
not what this word gracious means. A
woman who is gracious is full of grace. This woman who will retain her honor
will be one who understands and walks in grace.
Do you understand grace? Are you
growing in the knowledge of his grace?
The
opposite of grace is ‘earned favor’ - showing kindness and demonstrating
affection based upon someone’s performance.
If we are to be women of grace we treat people based upon unconditional
love and not what they do or not do to us or those around us. In Galatians we read, “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever
of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” (Gal 5::4) If
we try to justify our relationships with the law, especially ‘our’ law we will
cease from being gracious women. We need
to deal with people with grace.
So
many times we remind our children to honor us as their mothers. This verse tells us that our children will
see us as women who deserve their honor as we deal with them with grace. This doesn’t mean we don’t give them
consequences and train them in the way
they should go, rather it means that we are rooting for them when we
discipline them desiring their success.
Grace extends opportunities for improvement, repentance and
victory. Grace causes us not to punish our
children because of how their actions affect us, but rather to deal with them
in a way that is believing all things, hoping all things and enduring all
things.
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