Grace ~ What is so amazing about it?

Grace.

What is so amazing about that word?

The most popular way of hearing about it in our world today is the song "Amazing Grace" that is so overwhelmingly sung... but not always practiced.

Amazing Grace!
How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind but now I see

'Twas Grace that taught my heart to fear
And Grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

Amazing grace, indeed.

We want grace.

We expect grace to be shown.

BUT.

Do we really understand and grasp "GRACE?"

The definitions of grace:

mercy; clemency; pardon:  

a manifestation of favor, especially by a superior:  

favor or goodwill.

In the last few months the Lord has been taking me on a journey of learning more about His grace, and the grace I must show others.

I have re-read Philip Yancey's book:

And then the Lord led me to read Max Lucado's book:

I know as a child I grew up singing the song "Grace that is greater than all my sin".... but I must admit that until recently did I fully grasp what that meant.  And I am not sure I will ever fully understand grace until I see my Savior face-to-face.

In many parts of our world today, if you mess up in life, you are not shown much grace.  We seem to expect it and even demand it at times, but grace is so much more.  Philip Yancey states it this way:

"Many years ago I was driven to the conclusion that the two major causes of most emotional problems among evangelical Christians are these: the failure to understand, receive, and live out God's unconditional grace and forgiveness; and the failure to give out that unconditional love, forgiveness, and grace to other people... We read, we hear, we believe a good theology of grace.  But that's not the way we live.  The good news of the Gospel of grace has not penetrated the level of our emotions." 

I have had to do some soul searching in recent months to fully comprehend what grace was shown upon me from my Savior and what grace I must show to others.

Our past likes to creep up on us.

We all have moments in our past that we wish we could "do over."

We all have times in our lives where we wish it could be blotted out for good.

And, for those who know Christ as Savior, it HAS.

It is because His grace covers it all.  

It covers the past like it covers our present and our future.

And because of God's grace, He reveals those sins in us and uses them to change us into His image.  HIS GRACE uses our mistakes for HIS GLORY.

God's Word is FULL of mentions of His grace and we can so easily take it for ourselves and be so glad our own sin is forgiven.

At the same time, we can be holding on to condemnation and not show any grace to others who may fall into:

Sexual impurity - with minors, impurity before marriage and adultery during marriage.  

Pornographic addictions.

Drug and alcohol addictions.

The lying tongue.

Gluttony.

Murder.

Thievery.

The list could go on....including our "every day" sins of pride, hardheartedness, greed, and anger.

 

In a world given much grace, we surely do not like to believe someone could be covered by it and change.  



I will be the first to say that I still battle often the urge to base what I think of someone solely on what I know he/she did in the past.

Thankfully, that is not what my Savior has done for me.

Psalm 103:8-14 is full of the showing of His grace:

The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
Slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness.

He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever. 

 He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 

 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His loving kindness toward those who fear Him. 

 As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Just as a father has compassion on his children,
So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.

For He Himself knows our frame;
He is mindful that we are but dust.

How is it that we, who have been forgiven much and shown much grace, not show that grace to others?

If our Heavenly Father, Who created us, against Whom we sin, can forgive us and show us grace - and choose to remember it no more....

Max Lucado says it quite eloquently:

"God didn't overlook your sins, lest He endorse them.  He didn't punish you, lest He destroy you.  He instead found a way to punish the sin and preserve the sinner.  Jesus took your punishment, and God gave you the credit for Jesus' perfection."

"As long as the cross is God's gift to the world, it will touch you but not change you.  Precious as it is to proclaim, 'Christ died for the world,' even sweeter it is to whisper, 'Christ died for me.'"

"Thank God for the day Jesus took your place, for the day grace happened to you."

I know I am still a work in progress in understanding how to show that grace that has been shown to me.

We are called to show grace - unmerited favor - to others. 

It is then that we may become yet another definition of grace:

elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action: 

a pleasing or attractive quality or endowment: 

I don't know about you, but I know my Lord desires for me to reflect Him more and more as I get closer to seeing Him face-to-face.  Those definitions above show a good picture of what that looks like and how we can, by God's grace, lead others to Him.