Grace

Grace.  What is grace?  We hear of teachers having grace towards students when it comes to grades. We hear of someone graciously letting us over in traffic or the police officer who graciously let's us off of with a warning. But what does "grace" really mean? Webster's dictionary would define it as, "a simple elegance or refinement of movement, or (in Christian belief) the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings."  We can look around at bombings, injustice and the shortage of gas, and we tend to get so angry and wrapped up in the chaos.  In reality the only thing we need to be looking towards and at is the only One who can truly save us from our sins and from the world.  There is a famous Hymn, "Grace Greater Than Our Sin," in which the chorus has the words:

Grace, Grace, God's Grace,

Grace that will pardon and cleanse within,

Grace, Grace, God's Grace,

Grace that is greater than all our sin

From the above lyrics, I cannot help but think about the marvelous grace we have been given through Christ Jesus.  "Grace is greater than all our sin."  Those lyrics alone sum it all up.  God's grace is greater than anything we do against Him.  I experienced this grace.  I was chasing a sport that could never fulfill me and it took a simple tragedy in my life in order to open my eyes to the this infinite grace.  I find it very hard to give grace to someone who cheated on a test, let alone murdered someone.  But that is what separates our God from any other.  Our God comes to us and cleanses us from any bad thing we have ever done.  

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ --by grace you have been saved--and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

Ephesians 2:4-9

"But God, being rich in mercy…"  God gives us grace!  Webster got it right, "the free and unmerited favor of God."  Grace means to get something that you do not deserve; "unmerited favor."  Mercy means you do not get a punishment that you deserve; compassion, forbearance.  God is abundant in grace and mercy and we see that in Ephesians.  His greatest act of grace is the gift of salvation that is available for all people through faith.  When this free gift is accepted, eternal life is promised to the recipient.  Grace is the only way to the Father and we know that He is so gracious that He sends his only son to die for me and you, so that we may have eternal life and be in relationship with Him.     

Next time you think of grace, think of the blood that Christ shed for you and how "God, being rich in mercy…made us alive together with Christ."  So, today look around and remember that God's grace is better than anything else in the world and with it you will have a home one day in heaven with God.  I pray you have had an opportunity to experience this grace, because it is truly the only thing that can make you "alive in Christ."    

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

Romans 3:23-24