The Expectation of Grace

A friend and I were talking today about the difficulty of being graceful to those who expect to receive grace. I didn't say so then, but thinking about it, I think it's fair to day that we resent it.

Is anticipation the antithesis of grace? When we anticipate an act of grace, does it negate the grace? Or does it at least reduce our appreciation of it?

Have you ever anticipated what you hoped would be an act of grace from someone else, and then were disappointed - either by the act or by the absence of the act?

I think that we sometimes anticipate grace from God. We expect it. Perhaps it is only when we realize that we do not deserve grace and that we have no right to expect it from God that we finally are overwhelmed by its effect when we receive it.

That said, unlike us, God gives us grace even when we expect it. Instead of reacting like we do, with resentment, God loves us anyway. THAT'S grace -- undeserved and without resentment.