Have you ever wondered what it means when we say “we extend grace to those around us.”?

Often we get confused and tricked into thinking that grace means agreement. 

We’re here to break that confusion today. 

The truth is:

We can extend grace to others…at the same time, not agreeing to everything they’re doing. 

“Grace has to do with wanting good things for someone; an agreement is a value, perspective, and opinion about a subject.” -Dr.John Townsend. Grace is when we empathize and understand what someone is going through. We support, love, and accept. Grace is about embracing the broken process. On the other hand, agreement, being a perspective and opinion, we can’t always agree on what others value, but we can always give the love, courage, and support needed to bear and deal with the real consequence of a problem and situation.  

A metaphor by Dr.John Townsend explains, 

“Grace is like the ocean, surrounding us, and constantly supporting us. The agreement is a specific and finite boat on that ocean. If you don’t agree, you change boats to another position, but you stay on the ocean.” 

Never confuse grace with agreement or rescue. Grace is all about being present and embracing, supporting someone else’s crisis. We all need grace like the ocean. We may be on the same ocean, but different boats. We’re still able to support and care for one another.