Grace

Grace is unmerited favor. It is receiving something that you did not earn. You cannot work to receive something and receive it by grace at the same time. My paycheck comes because I work. The biweekly payroll deposit does not happen because of grace.

Grace is particularly good when we receive something that we need. Most of us have received things we did not earn, but things we did not want. When Lori and I were newly married, we received three hand-me-down mowers. These were not new, but mowers that supposedly had some life in them. I remember one time while trying to mow the yard, I did not finish. It was not because of laziness, but because two of the three mowers had broken down and I just was not up to trying the third. We received these mowers through good intentions, but they were not what we needed.

The ultimate need for all people is to become right with God. The problem with this common need is that we cannot earn our way back to a right relationship with God. The only way is for us to receive grace. Jesus met the requirements of God and He freely shares His work with us, if we will receive it. Being right with God only comes through unmerited favor. Have you accepted this gift?

Yesterday we were talking with a man who has problem with receiving grace. He expects that we must do something to be right with God. He does not want to accept the fact that nothing we can do can fix our problem. We must have help. Why is this? Some people want to be able to say they did it. We see this in a child who will not accept help; they say ‘I do it myself!’ Some people think they are not worthy to accept this gift. They must clean up their life to be acceptable. The problem is there is no amount of cleaning you can do to make yourself acceptable. As some church signs say ‘Come as you are’.

Some have accepted this gift. Do you live by this gift? Maybe God would like you to change something in your life. You do not because you just do not want to, or you do not have the power, or you just do not try hard enough. God does not disown His child, just because they are disobedient or will not try. Grace extends to us when we are far from God and it continues with us through our life with Him. We start our relationship with God through grace and we must live our life with Him through grace.

What a great and awesome God who loves such a weak and ineffective man as myself!