Grace Is More

What is grace? I'm not even going to pretend to understand or know the full extent of God's grace, because I know that I cannot. But what I do know is that we undervalue and underappreciate it. And I think that part of that is because we haven't taken the time to more fully understand what God's grace does. Too often, we see God's grace as simply the forgiveness of sin. If asked what God's grace was, we would give the "Christian" response of, "God's grace forgave me for my sins. Because God has grace, He completely forgives me and acts like it never happened." This IS great news, but as far as being a Godly thing goes, it's not even impressive.

And the reason I can say that is because that definition of grace is no different than what a normal person can do. And if a normal person can do it on their own (without God's help), is it really that impressive if God can? You, yes you, the reader, could walk up to me and punch me in the face for no reason. Now, that is a sin against me. As a fellow, sinful human being, I can choose to forgive you. Moreover, I can choose to completely forgive you. And even further than that, I can choose to completely forgive you and act like it never happened. I can continue my relationship with you in full forgiveness, choosing to act like you never punched me in the face. Would I do that? I don't know. But the point is, I could. A crappy human being just exhibited grace in the same way that many Christians would describe God's grace. In fact, non-Christian humans everywhere forgive other people and move on in that forgiveness every day.

So what makes God's grace so awesome? Yes, the above reason is part of it. It is great that God would look at us, forgive us, and move on from our constant sin. But there's more. What can human's not do that God can? Well, for one, if you punch me in the face, that sin effects you, just like every other sin. And no matter how hard I try, I cannot make up for how your sin effects you. No matter how much I forgive you, I can't do it. But God's grace can! The wages of sin is death . . . DEATH, but God's grace overcomes that. Sin separates us from God and keeps us from His inherent love and goodness, but His grace covers that. God's grace covers how our sins effect us spiritually. Think about that for a second; meditate on the fact that God's grace completely covers the effect your sin (once again, DEATH) has on your life and allows you to be molded into the being God has planned for you and allows God to move you into the plans He has for your life (abundant life - John 10:10). God's grace is what allows God to be more prevalent in your life; it's what allows God to help you love Him more; and it's what allows God to move you into a deeper, more intimate relationship with Himself.

Secondly, no matter how much I forgive you, I can't change you. But God's grace changes us. According to I John 1:9, God's forgiveness purifies us from ALL unrighteousness and reconciles us back to Him. God's grace and forgiveness gives us Christ's righteousness in God's eyes, a gift no human can give. In fact, in God's eyes, we are perfect.

Thirdly, God's grace gives us eternal life. While we were dead in our sin, God's grace gives us eternal life with the very one we rejected.

So don't put God's grace in a box. You will never be able to understand it completely, but that just means there is always room to understand it more fully. Pray that God will show you more and more what His grace has done for you, and realize the only reason God can do that is because His grace allows it. I have only given a couple examples of the wonderfulness of God's grace - there are many more! Read Ephesians 2:1-7 and allow God to show you something of Himself.