The Grace of God

What is the Grace of God?

It’s many different things.

It’s when a butterfly emerges from a cocoon after a long transformational period of being a caterpillar.

It’s the first breath a newborn baby takes.

It’s a mother’s or father’s love for their children.

It’s when you help your neighbor fix their car because they don’t have the funds to buy a better one.

It is taking time to spend with your loved ones.

I think you get the point.

God’s grace is everywhere and in every good deed, we do.

When thinking of what grace is in the Bible, it can be easiest to sum it up with the words of author Paul Zahl: “Grace is unconditional love toward a person who does not deserve it.”

Grace is different for everyone. But the Bible describes grace as a gift.  Ephesians 4:7

It is an unconditional gift that God chooses to bless us and others with. 

First, anyone who has ever received the gift of grace understands that a gift is much different than a loan.

A loan requires repayment or return to the person who gave it to you.

The fact that grace is a gift means that nothing is owed in return.

Second, gifts are free to the person who receives them. Although they are not free to the giver, who bears the expense.

The gift of salvation costs us, sinners, nothing. But the price of such an extravagant gift came at a great cost for Jesus, who died in our place.

Third, once a gift has been given, ownership of the gift has transferred, and it is now ours to keep.

A gift is permanent, not like a loan.  When we give gifts, we permanently relinquish all rights to take back the gift in the future.

God’s grace is ours forever.

Fourth, when we give a gift we readily give up something we own.  Even if we just got it.  We are willing to part with our value to give to someone else so that they might increase their worth. We become poorer and the recipient gains wealth.

This generous and voluntary exchange is visible in 2 Corinthians 8:9: “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor so that through his poverty you might become rich.”

Finally, the Bible teaches that grace is completely unmerited.

The gift and the act of giving have nothing at all to do with our merit or innate quality (Romans 4:4; 11:5–6; 2 Timothy 1:9–10).

In fact, the Bible says quite clearly that we don’t deserve God’s salvation. Romans 5:8–10 says, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. . . . While we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son.”

The gift of grace is not something we deserve to get.  Grace is not something that we are entitled to.

It is truly a gift from the good Lord, and we need to be thankful for his grace every second of every day.

ACTION

Here’s how you can take action RIGHT NOW!

1. Pray. When you pray thank God for his grace and the sacrifices, he made to give us the gift of grace.
2. Give grace to others.  Remember grace is a gift, one that we can freely give.  So, give it to everyone.  When someone cuts in line in front of you. Give them grace (not the bird).  When their service is not up to your expectations, share grace with them, instead of rude comments.
3. Be thankful when some else shares their grace with you.  It may not be easy to thank someone for allowing you to go first, or maybe you didn’t even see them there. It doesn’t matter in your heart to truly be thankful for the opportunities others give you and be thankful for the grace they share with you.