What Do Other People Deserve (from me)?

-The neighbor's dog uses my front yard as "the facilities". What is my response?
-What is my response to the person driving 5 mph under the speed limit in the left lane?
-How should I react when I am accused of offending someone (even if I should have been the one offended in the situation)?

What drives my interaction with the people around me? Is it my desire to be correct (and that it be made known loud and clear)? Is my conversation with people mostly to hear them or to push my thoughts on them?

In my last post I discussed what I deserve. If you didn't catch that please check it out.

Now I intend to tackle the situation of what other people deserve from me. One foundation must be laid down to understand where I am coming from, which ironically is the whole point of the post. That foundation of my response to this question (What do people deserve from me?) is rooted in the point of my last post which said that I deserve the wrath of God because of my plethora of shortcomings and failings. But in his infinite mercy and grace he provided the means so that I would not have to experience that wrath. The means? His son Jesus Christ.

So when I think about what God has done in providing his son, Jesus, to essentially step in front of the bullet of God's wrath that was supposed to be for me, it has to affect the way I live my life and the way I interact with other people.

Jesus told a story about a servant who owed his king lots of money, let's say $100,000. The master was intending to sell the servant and his family to pay for the debt, but the servant begged for forgiveness of his debts. The king was gracious and forgave the debt. Later on, the servant runs across a guy who owes him a much smaller amount, let's say $100. The servant chokes the guy and tells him to give the money back. The guy pleads for forgiveness but the servant takes the guy and has him thrown in jail until the debt can be repayed. The master finds out about this and is not happy. He takes the servant and says "You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?" So he had the servant given over to the torturers until he could repay his debt. (see the actual story here)

That story is very applicable to everyday life. If Jesus forgave me of all my wrongdoings against him, shouldn't I also forgive my neighbor? Of course I should! My wrongdoings against God are HUGE and numerous compared to the small offenses that someone else does to me.

So when my neighbor's dog comes and makes a big ol' pile on my lawn, I can get all up tight and stomp over there with a shovel to let him pick it up... or I can give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe he doesn't even know the dog gets out.

Or the guy/gal going 5 under in the left hand lane, maybe they are as content as can be with life (we all have those days every once in a blue moon, where we're not in a hurry). So instead of riding their bumper, I should be patient (what is the extra minute I save by going faster, going to do for me anyways).

So the conclusion is this: Because so much grace and forgiveness has been extended to me, I should extend grace and forgiveness whenever I can. What people deserve from me is GRACE.

Side note: This is one of those things that what you believe affects the way you act. If I based my faith on my feelings and my performance (how "well" or how "poorly" I live each day), I'd be falling in and out of salvation all the time. And I would treat people the same way, acting as if that they had to earn my forgiveness. But because I believe that the Bible teaches that God's grace covers all my sins - even the ones I haven't committed yet - I should treat people with grace as well.