Lately, God has been hitting me upside the head with a deeper understanding of His grace. It has been overwhelming. Last week I wrapped up a teaching series in our youth ministry on grace. As I reflect on the four weeks of study and prep, I realize how utterly blessed I am to have such a gift.
I define grace as "undeserved favor". Undeserved because there is nothing that we do to earn it, it is simply given. Favor because it is a demonstrated delight or blessing. Ultimately God is the giver of grace. Then, I also believe that followers of Christ have the ability to extend grace to those who need it.
I have been the benefit of grace many times in my life. Let me share. The most significant time happened the day that I decided to follow Jesus. When I was eight years old, for the first time in my life, I acknowledged the reality of sin that separated me from God. I discovered that I couldn't deal with my sin on my own but that I needed Jesus. I discovered the life changing message that Jesus died and rose to give me pardon of my sins and ultimately new life, eternal life. Wow! Jesus did that for me. That is grace! Throughout my life, every time I have repented of sin and received the forgiveness of Jesus, I have done so because of the grace of God. Romans 3:23 is clear in that I deserve death because of my sins. However, this verse is just as clear that Jesus gave us a gift in eternal life. Grace. I received what I didn't deserve.
The second biggest moment of my life when I received grace happened when I was in middle school. I will spare you all the details, but I found myself answering questions in a police station. I had done something inappropriate and therefore had people who wanted to press charges against me. I remember that night sitting in the den of our house, across from my Dad, as we talked about the personal and spiritual consequences for my poor decision. We ended our time together by kneeling shoulder to shoulder as I asked Jesus to forgive and cleanse my heart. I received the grace of Jesus. Then we prayed and asked for wisdom about what to do. As you can imagine, I had a hard time concentrating in class the following day at school. I was having continuous thoughts of what would happen to me if I went to court over this. I would be punished and need to serve time. I would also need to mention what I did on every job application in the future. Yikes. That afternoon, when I was dismissed from school, God led me to stop by the home of the offended to apologize. I remember being terribly nervous, but at the same time, I was relying on God to give me the words to say. The man of the house opened the door, and then I mustered the best words that I could come up with in the moment to say that I was sorry for what I had done. Then he returned with words that I will never forget, "I forgive you." Whew, what a weight lifted! I totally didn't deserve that! That night, I received a phone call from the police station that my charges had been dropped. Through this experience I had so many burdens lifted. Grace.
Throughout Scripture we see God giving grace and people receiving His grace. One of my favorite grace texts is in 1 Timothy 1 when Paul shares his experience in being overwhelmed by God's grace. Verse 13 says, "The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus." Paul knew the grace of God. He, a persecutor of Christians, met Jesus in a significant way. Then, through the grace of God, Paul was used to reach so many for Jesus. Grace.
The fact that any of us are able to sin and survive the wrath of God is total grace. God's grace says that no matter what you have done, Jesus is sufficient. Be careful to not take God's grace for granted. It is not a licence to sin. God's grace is incentive to walk in freedom. If Jesus has set you free, you are free indeed. Jesus wants to meet you wherever you are today.
May the grace of God overwhelm you as it has me.
