I have been away from my writing for too long. It doesn’t feel right somehow to not…write to you, Lord. So, thank you Justine, my dearest friend, for challenging me to examine grace. “Grace” has always been a grey and abstract concept in my mind, so I’ve avoided it. But I’ve been called out for being timid and believing that I am too weak-minded to understand. God did not give any of us a mind that cannot grasp that which is glorifying to Him, and it is indeed glorifying to Him to know Him, understand Him, and confess that knowledge.
So here we go – Lord be with me as we clean up this muddy area. Grant me understanding.
First off, how did the idea of grace even get brought up in our conversation, Justine? We were talking about shame and guilt. Of these two things I have been the queen for far too long. Sometimes they surround me, like a room full of locked doors or drown me, like thick, heavy quicksand. There have been times when I was so ashamed I wished God would just strike me down right then and there. But did He? No, of course not. What did He do instead? He simply whispered into my ear, “confess.” Oh Father, you are so good. I am brought to my knees by your goodness. You humble my heart and take away the shame. Thank you God.
But before I could understand how grace applied to any of this gross shame/guilt stuff, I had to ask, “What is grace?” To that, I found many different answers. Not contradictory, but complementary instead. Just like the nature of man and the nature of God. So here is what I have discovered about the meaning of grace:
1) It originates from the same Hebrew word for “favor” or “gift.” So grace…is a gift. What kind of gift?
2) You never see “the grace of something or other” written in the bible. It’s simply written as “grace.” So, whatever is part of this gift is implied in the singular word. It’s a loaded word; hence, it must be a loaded gift. Well, it’s a gift from God, so what did we expect? (haha) Grace, what are you?
3) Grace is apparently not just the gift of one thing, as shown through the following verses, but many. Let’s look at the different things grace, this gift, can be:
A) Acts 18:27 says “On arriving, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed.” So we can see that believing is a gift. We do not believe without it.
B) Romans 3:23-24 says “For all have sinned…and are justified freely by his grace.” So this shows us that this gift includes justification. We are justified. No more self-justification or justification from God’s wrath? That sounds good. No more penalty (because being justified would imply paying something). What did I pay? Nothing. We are justified freely.
C) 2 Corinthians 1:2, amongst a plethora of other passages, says “Grace and peace to you from God.” I have found that grace, whatever this gift might be, is almost always referenced with “peace.” So grace and peace must be very closely related.
D) Galatians 2:21 says “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” We can see here this grace, this gift of God, includes righteousness. Whoa. That’s big. Considering that what keeps us away from God is our sin, our neglect and lack of righteousness, and that our goal is to be closer to God, this is a big gift! Our Lord is giving us a way to be closer to Him! That’s exactly what I want.
E) Ephesians 2:7 says “…in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” This shows that God’s grace is expressed through kindness. Our God is kind.
F) And last, but not least, Thessalonians 2:16-17 says “May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.” So grace is the gift of encouragement and hope for the rest of your days. Mmmm, that sounds goooooood.
Wooo! That’s a lot of information for my little head! Let’s take a breather. (big gulp of air) Ok, recap time: So, “grace” is a gift from God. This gift gives us tons of cool stuff: belief, justification, peace, righteousness, kindness, encouragement, hope…and it’s free. Let’s keep going, shall we?
4) What can we know about a gift given by God? Romans 11:29 tells us that “God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.” His gifts can’t be reversed. Once it is given, it is given. Once it is done, it is done. Once it is finished…it is finished. Grace is final. All those things given to us are final. Forever. Encouragement? Hope? Yours for now and for always.
5) I think something that is extremely important to note is that rarely is the “grace of God” written about without being referenced to Jesus. Jesus seems to be central to grace. It is clearly through Him that we were given grace. John 1:17 says “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” This is where I make the mistake, being buried in the Old Testament constantly – to understand God, I must understand Jesus, duh!
6) How is such an amazing gift given by and through Jesus? Being rescued from a life of disbelief is a BIG deal. It must have cost a BIG price. Hebrews 2:9 says “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” Tasted death. That is a big price. This poor, beautiful man was given over to death. The lover of your soul and my soul. A God who can do nothing but good…died.
Man this is a long post. But that’s okay, it’s important. I want to finish confessing what I’ve learned about grace tonight and figure out how it applies to us all, everyday.
7) Can “grace” be forfeited even though it is free? Yes. Jonah 2:8 says “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.” I’m not exactly sure how this works, but apparently by clinging to things not of God, we refuse to have our hearts renewed, which comes through Jesus. It is important to not take such a gift in vain.
8) This is an immense gift imparted on me and it is so good. How do I show grace to other people? Colossians 4:6 says “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” To show grace to others, we need to prepare ourselves to converse with flavorful answers – or in other words: truth. (I need more work on this!) Where does grace lie? According to John 1:3, grace, as well as mercy and peace, can be found in truth and love. Perfection.
God wants us to have hope, encouragement, love, kindness and so many other things in our lives…so He gave us grace. And He gave it to us through Jesus. And for all this He just asks us to love Him and seek Him with our whole-heart? I don’t understand, Lord. You are so kind. You are the literal epitome of kindness…but you love me. You have set me free from my disbelief and un-seeking heart – so free I must be (John 8:36)!
There is so much more I could say about grace, but let me just leave it with this: if God wants us to be all these things, then He must not want us to be ashamed and guilt-stricken. He just wants us to be humble…to have humility before Him, as we should…to not be afraid of this, for He loves us infinitely. I did not realize until today that shame and humility could be separate.
2 Corinthians 12:9 says “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.” If humility is what you ask for, humble-hearted I will be, Lord. I will not be ashamed, for You love me.
Amen, Hallelujah, Praise Jesus.
My heart is restored.
So here we go – Lord be with me as we clean up this muddy area. Grant me understanding.
First off, how did the idea of grace even get brought up in our conversation, Justine? We were talking about shame and guilt. Of these two things I have been the queen for far too long. Sometimes they surround me, like a room full of locked doors or drown me, like thick, heavy quicksand. There have been times when I was so ashamed I wished God would just strike me down right then and there. But did He? No, of course not. What did He do instead? He simply whispered into my ear, “confess.” Oh Father, you are so good. I am brought to my knees by your goodness. You humble my heart and take away the shame. Thank you God.
But before I could understand how grace applied to any of this gross shame/guilt stuff, I had to ask, “What is grace?” To that, I found many different answers. Not contradictory, but complementary instead. Just like the nature of man and the nature of God. So here is what I have discovered about the meaning of grace:
1) It originates from the same Hebrew word for “favor” or “gift.” So grace…is a gift. What kind of gift?
2) You never see “the grace of something or other” written in the bible. It’s simply written as “grace.” So, whatever is part of this gift is implied in the singular word. It’s a loaded word; hence, it must be a loaded gift. Well, it’s a gift from God, so what did we expect? (haha) Grace, what are you?
3) Grace is apparently not just the gift of one thing, as shown through the following verses, but many. Let’s look at the different things grace, this gift, can be:
A) Acts 18:27 says “On arriving, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed.” So we can see that believing is a gift. We do not believe without it.
B) Romans 3:23-24 says “For all have sinned…and are justified freely by his grace.” So this shows us that this gift includes justification. We are justified. No more self-justification or justification from God’s wrath? That sounds good. No more penalty (because being justified would imply paying something). What did I pay? Nothing. We are justified freely.
C) 2 Corinthians 1:2, amongst a plethora of other passages, says “Grace and peace to you from God.” I have found that grace, whatever this gift might be, is almost always referenced with “peace.” So grace and peace must be very closely related.
D) Galatians 2:21 says “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” We can see here this grace, this gift of God, includes righteousness. Whoa. That’s big. Considering that what keeps us away from God is our sin, our neglect and lack of righteousness, and that our goal is to be closer to God, this is a big gift! Our Lord is giving us a way to be closer to Him! That’s exactly what I want.
E) Ephesians 2:7 says “…in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” This shows that God’s grace is expressed through kindness. Our God is kind.
F) And last, but not least, Thessalonians 2:16-17 says “May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.” So grace is the gift of encouragement and hope for the rest of your days. Mmmm, that sounds goooooood.
Wooo! That’s a lot of information for my little head! Let’s take a breather. (big gulp of air) Ok, recap time: So, “grace” is a gift from God. This gift gives us tons of cool stuff: belief, justification, peace, righteousness, kindness, encouragement, hope…and it’s free. Let’s keep going, shall we?
4) What can we know about a gift given by God? Romans 11:29 tells us that “God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.” His gifts can’t be reversed. Once it is given, it is given. Once it is done, it is done. Once it is finished…it is finished. Grace is final. All those things given to us are final. Forever. Encouragement? Hope? Yours for now and for always.
5) I think something that is extremely important to note is that rarely is the “grace of God” written about without being referenced to Jesus. Jesus seems to be central to grace. It is clearly through Him that we were given grace. John 1:17 says “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” This is where I make the mistake, being buried in the Old Testament constantly – to understand God, I must understand Jesus, duh!
6) How is such an amazing gift given by and through Jesus? Being rescued from a life of disbelief is a BIG deal. It must have cost a BIG price. Hebrews 2:9 says “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” Tasted death. That is a big price. This poor, beautiful man was given over to death. The lover of your soul and my soul. A God who can do nothing but good…died.
Man this is a long post. But that’s okay, it’s important. I want to finish confessing what I’ve learned about grace tonight and figure out how it applies to us all, everyday.
7) Can “grace” be forfeited even though it is free? Yes. Jonah 2:8 says “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.” I’m not exactly sure how this works, but apparently by clinging to things not of God, we refuse to have our hearts renewed, which comes through Jesus. It is important to not take such a gift in vain.
8) This is an immense gift imparted on me and it is so good. How do I show grace to other people? Colossians 4:6 says “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” To show grace to others, we need to prepare ourselves to converse with flavorful answers – or in other words: truth. (I need more work on this!) Where does grace lie? According to John 1:3, grace, as well as mercy and peace, can be found in truth and love. Perfection.
God wants us to have hope, encouragement, love, kindness and so many other things in our lives…so He gave us grace. And He gave it to us through Jesus. And for all this He just asks us to love Him and seek Him with our whole-heart? I don’t understand, Lord. You are so kind. You are the literal epitome of kindness…but you love me. You have set me free from my disbelief and un-seeking heart – so free I must be (John 8:36)!
There is so much more I could say about grace, but let me just leave it with this: if God wants us to be all these things, then He must not want us to be ashamed and guilt-stricken. He just wants us to be humble…to have humility before Him, as we should…to not be afraid of this, for He loves us infinitely. I did not realize until today that shame and humility could be separate.
2 Corinthians 12:9 says “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.” If humility is what you ask for, humble-hearted I will be, Lord. I will not be ashamed, for You love me.
Amen, Hallelujah, Praise Jesus.
My heart is restored.
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Baller. It's perfect.
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