Recently, I have had it on my heart to touch on the foundational Christian topics, that we should all understand, or come to understand. One of those important foundation building topics, is the grace of God.

Many awesome characteristics and actions of God seem watered down and overlooked. Grace is definitely one of those things. We believe we understand it. We hear it all the time. It’s one of the most popular names out there. It’s one of the most sung about topics in Christian music. Yet, it’s one of the least empowering, least powerful, and least important parts of our Christian walk. Not because it truly is, but because we simply don’t fully understand it.

Recently, the Lord gave me a fresh revelation on grace, that I had never seen on my own before, and I would like to share it with you.

Grace Defined

When I thought of grace, I often thought of God not punishing us when we get things wrong. Not striking us down with a lightning bolt when we sin or leaving us when we fail time and time again. I pictured God being disappointed in us, but not walking away, and not hitting us. Like he was just silently judging us, not actually punishing us for our sins, but just being neutral.

Looking at all the words we get with “grace” like graceful and gracious though, I had come to realize that it had to mean something different. Gracious reflects a giving, kind-natured person and action. Graceful describes someone that pleasant. Certainly, grace was not used to describe someone that was just neutral.

One of the clearest definitions for grace that I have heard defined it amongst its similar concepts, justice and mercy.

The pastor said it like this,

“Justice is when you get what you do deserve. Mercy is when you don’t get what you do deserve, and grace is when you get what you don’t deserve”.

That made sense. When someone is graceful towards you, they give you kindness, though you may not deserve it. When they are gracious, they are courteous and pleasant, often giving, when the other person didn’t do anything to deserve it.

Grace, when spoken of in the world, is always seen as being positive and a great thing. The world would love for everyone to be give, even to those that don’t deserve it. Being graceful is seemingly love in action.

So, why is it overlooked?

Not By Works

I believe that we have resorted back into a world of works. We live in a world where everything and everyone is defined by how much they do, and how busy they are. Everyone wants to “grind” and work to get things done, just to get a paycheck or feel fulfillment in their lives. Or, to feel like they are better than their peers.

This is similar to how the Pharisees in the Bible lived. While they didn’t worry about “grinding” and getting ahead of the game, they did worry about righteousness, and judged others based on the sin they committed. They were often seen as hypocrites, and self-righteous. While we don’t exactly see the Pharisses in our culture today, we can see similarities in the fact that we live based on how well our lives are. Or, on how well we act, or perform. This determines our value, our worth, and our future.

That is not the life that we are called to live.

Our world today, certainly like the Pharisees, live unfulfilled lives. They work hard, just to go home tired and depressed. They make money, build an influence, have a following, just to fall apart behind the scenes. The world lives by their works, and eventually die by their works, as their whole world can come crumbling down by the word, “cancelled”.

While this isn’t an attempt to get political, or to criticize, or become drama filled, but an attempt to show you that we cannot live in a world based on works. We must live by faith, and it is only by grace that that is possible.

God’s Definition of Grace

Grace, in its simplest form means to give others what they don’t deserve.

It would be like if I gave an acquaintance a crisp twenty-dollar bill. They didn’t do anything to earn it, they aren’t my friend, I just gave it to them out of kindness. This is the definition that the world knows.

But God is so much greater. He’s given us so much more than we could ever deserve and still keeps giving. I could give you verse after verse to describe the grace and kindness of our God. He is just that good.

The Lord has given us a new definition of grace. Grace, by the Lord’s standard, is his unmerited, and unlimited favor and kindness. It isn’t just him not punishing us. It isn’t just kindness like we know. God’s grace is unmerited, unconditional, unlimited favor and kindness towards us. How great is that!

Check this verse out,

“God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8).

His grace doesn’t just get us a cup of coffee that we are surprised with. It allows us to have all sufficiency, in all things, at all times. So, in everything, at all times, we have what we need, solely because of his grace. That is so powerful.

Grace isn’t something that we should be overlooking, but we should be allowing it to affect our everyday, our everything, and our everyone. His grace is sufficient for us. It’s not just something that he gives us so that we can go to Heaven, or so we won’t be smited, but it is all we need.

Just take a moment and thank him for that.

The Gift of Grace

Grace is unmerited. It’s not something that we earn, or we deserve, but is just given to us. Similarly, so is a gift.

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11).

Take Christmas for example. Whether this is biblical or not, we pretty much all give and receive gifts for Christmas. We have even adopted the idea of “Santa Claus”, where there is a fat guy in a big red suit, giving gifts to all the children around the world. Sometimes though, he gives out coal to the bad kids. While he certainly isn’t real, even parents don’t typically give their kids coal, bad or not.

If parents, who are not perfect, know how to give their children gifts, how much better is God’s unmerited gift of grace in our lives.

My mom is great at giving gifts. She is always great at picking out the best gifts for us, and we are always left pleasantly surprised on Christmas day. My fiancée shares in that trait. She has also always been great at giving gifts. But I know that God is a much better giver than both.

There is so much that God can do through his grace. He has given us sufficiency, in all things, at all times. His grace provides us with righteousness. It provides us with health and prosperity. It gives us everything we need to tackle whatever he asks of us, and whatever we are confronted with throughout our lives.

In fact, it is less about what he can specifically do through his grace, but more about what we have to do to receive it. This is where we need to take action. Lean in.

Receiving Grace

Receiving grace is a step that so few of us take, which is often why we miss the importance, and the power of it.

Ephesians 2:8 reads like this,

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God”.

There are two parts to this short passage that we must understand. We have been saved by grace. It is not our own doing, but the grace of God that gifts us salvation. Free of cost. Free of works. However, it is through faith, that we receive the salvation.

Without first the sacrifice of Christ, we could not be saved. Salvation would be impossible, and we would be stuck in our eternal death. His grace had to come first. But without next believing, we can never receive the salvation that he is already offering.

When it comes to salvation, the first part is done for everybody. God is holding out his hand, with salvation at everyone’s grasp, yet many fail to take the next step of faith required to receive the salvation. The “by grace” has already been done by God. But the “through faith” is something that we all need to do to receive what God is offering.

While this is all evident and clear when it comes to salvation. Looking back at 2 Corinthians 9:8 shows us that it is true in all areas. Grace has made it that in all things, we may have all sufficiency. God has given us everything we need and continues to do so. But we must receive it, through faith.

The Effects of Grace

The first step in our walks with grace, is understanding that it is a free gift, that we can never work for, it is simply a gift from God. It is able to provide for us in all things, everything we need. That is awesome on it’s own!

The next step is believing that the Lord has already offered it to you. He’s holding it out, offering you what you need.

The last step is receiving it through faith. Simply taking a step in faith, believing that you have everything we need, and thus receiving everything you need.

This is the fun part, where we can start to see the effects of grace come through in our lives. But what are the effects of grace in our lives?

Other than having all sufficiency in all things at all times, there are an array of other blessings that sprout through grace. Think about the effects that the grace of others has had on your life.

Someone buys you a coffee. You’re thankful. You smile and thank them. Maybe you give them a hug and you jump up and down in joy. If you did that, you must really like coffee! Regardless though, you experience joy, gratitude, and thankfulness.

Recently, I was gifted my favorite supplement. To you, that may not sound very exciting, but for me, I was so happy. It made my day, and every time I use the supplement, I experience the same joy, and the same gratitude that I felt when it was first gifted to me. In fact, taking the supplement is always the best part of my day when I get to take it.

We all have had an experience like this. We get a gift that we love so much that all we can do is say, “thank you so much”. How much more will grace from God, who gives better gifts than we ever can, provide gratitude, and thankfulness? Think of those times, and multiply your joy 100-fold, and you’ll still be surprised by how great the gift of grace is to our lives.

Final Thoughts

Grace is such a powerful thing. It not only reveals to us that we have so much at hand, free of charge, but it also reveals a lot about God’s character.

We tend to see God as a distant, harsh God. But grace reveals to us that he not only supports us and wants to, but that we want to provide for our every need. He wants to provide your finances. He wants to provide your health. There is no limit to what the Lord wants to provide for us.

But we need to take away our restraints. Take away what is restricting your faith. Put away your doubts, your disbelief. Put your faith in the Lord, and depend on him, and his grace, for your every need.

Have a great week!