Grace.... what does that even mean??
- Jordan Round
- Apr 14, 2019
- 3 min read
What does Grace mean to you? I expect if you were to ask the average person totally out of context these would be some of the responses:
+ Graceful movement - smooth and nimble. Maybe in relation to a dancer or the gentry
+ A day's grace - allowing a little more time than you originally agreed
+ Gracious in Defeat - not being a bad loser and admitting that the better person won
Dictionary.com gives the following definition:
Noun
elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action: We watched her skate with effortless grace across the ice.
a pleasing or attractive quality or endowment: He lacked the manly graces.
favour or goodwill.
a manifestation of favour, especially by a superior: It was only through the dean's grace that I wasn't expelled from school.
verb (used with object), graced, grac·ing.
to lend or add grace to; adorn: Many fine paintings graced the rooms of the house.
to favour or honour: to grace an occasion with one's presence.
When we talk about God's grace, it is favour, specifically the manifestation of favour that we mean.
We are alive through God's grace and his goodness and love overflowing that meant that he created everything, weaving himself into the very fabric of being. Without God, there could be nothing, because he is the thing that is.
More often than not when Christians refer to God's grace it is in reference to the way that he accepts us.
Ephesians is a letter that St Paul sent to the very early Church in Ephesus and in chapter 2 verses 8 and 9 he says:
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. (NIV)
What he is saying is that grace is a gift that God freely gives to every person. When we accept his grace, or the manifestation of his favour, we are saved.
Saved and Salvation are two more words that I could write a post on in future! Plainly speaking being saved or having salvation is the acceptance of the gift of God in Jesus Christ. The death and subsequent return-to-life of Jesus is the mechanism for ever person on this earth to have direct relationship to God because of his great love for you.
God offers this freely and not because we deserve it. No person is perfect, and we all have flaws. We all have guilt, and sometimes we can have trouble finding acceptance because:
"if they only knew what I've done, they would take everything away they have ever given me, they would reject me, and they would never want to speak to me again"
But this is the miracle of Grace.
It is a gift and not a reward.
God knows about you. He knows what you've done.
And yet he still wants you. He chases after you. He freely gives forgiveness and the promise of new life with Him. He sacrificed everything-
For You.
If you have another minute, follow the link below to a story about a man who thought that he would disregard those who loved him, basically tell his Father he wanted him to die so that he could have his inheritance, which the Father have him and then he spunked it all away, probably on booze, drugs, women and rock'n'roll.
He is left with nothing, so goes back to his Father to grovel, ask for forgiveness and to work as a household slave, denying himself as a son.
But the Father will not have it. He gives his son the best robe in his house, puts an honourary ring on his finger, cooks him the most enormous feast you could ever imagine and celebrates the return of his son by throwing a party for all their friends.
This is Grace.
The father did not care what the son had done, he simply welcomed him back with open arms and celebrated his return.
This is how God reacts when we turn back to him, he throws a party in heaven, breaks out the Dom, the beers and the Cubans and loads tomahawk steak on the BBQ because the child, who was lost has returned.
No consequences.
No guilt trip.
No shame.
Just pure love
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