We all have heard at some point in our lives about God’s grace. Whether is was as a child growing up or as an adult, there was probably somebody or something we read that referred to us receiving the grace of God. But I wonder how many of us truly know what that means. To understand it a little more let’s take a look at the meaning of the word grace.
Dictionary.com had several different meanings and I want to highlight a few: 1. Favor or goodwill; 2. A manifestation of favor, especially by a superior; and 3. Mercy, clemency, or pardon. These all speak to someone bestowing some type of favor, goodwill, mercy or pardon on another. When speaking of God’s grace, these are the things He has bestowed upon each one of us because of His love for us. This is who our God is and this is what He does. So now that we understand what this grace is that God wants to give freely to us, the next question is who is it for?
The answer to this question was the topic of the Pastor Rick Warren devotional I shared today on Facebook. God’s love and mercy do not know boundaries and are not limited to a certain grouping or set of people. The beauty is we all have the ability to receive God’s grace. As said in Romans 4:16 (NLT) “So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe.” So regardless of our race, creed, color, or ethnicity God’s grace is a free gift that is waiting for all of us to open it up and receive it.
So why do we struggle so much with accepting the fact that God loves us and wants to give us His grace, mercy and love? The answer for me was I didn’t think I deserved it! We all too many times sit back and look at things from a human perspective and can’t see how, with all our imperfections, our God would want to love us.
Our problem is we try to put God in a human box and look at His actions toward us based on how we would react to others. We look at our sins, failings and faults and say if someone had done those things against me there is no way I would give them a free pass. There is no way I would just wipe the slate clean and tell them I still love them. There is no way I wouldn’t want some kind of payment for them to be in my good graces again.
But lucky for us our God doesn’t operate like that. Instead He looks at our fallen bodies, picks us up, dusts us off and says I still love you. I have a glorious plan for your life and I want to give you grace and it’s not going to cost you a thing! Wow what an awesome gift!
So today let’s stop fighting against God and the free gift of grace He wants to give us. Yes we’ve all made mistakes, and some of them may have been pretty bad, but that’s okay. Our God is telling us over and over again through scripture that we are forgiven and He still loves us! The only thing keeping us from moving forward past the guilt and pain is ourselves. We won’t allow ourselves to receive God’s grace because we can’t see how He could possibly still love us. As it says in Romans 11:33 (NLT), “Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and ways!” So stop trying to understand and just receive and watch how much your life will change!
Truth in Love!! ~ Chuck