Grace
Posted by Esther Stewart on Tuesday, May 24, 2011
So what is grace? Seriously. I'm a Christian and I'm supposed to know but I haven't got it yet.
"So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most." Hebrews 4:16
I've been a Christian for a while but my understanding of grace hadn't expanded beyond God's forgiveness of our sins. It's what leads us to salvation.
But then I come across verses like the one in Hebrews and I think that grace must be bigger than that. If I was forgiven for all my sins when I accepted Christ, my past, present, and future sins and can now "come boldly to the throne of" my "gracious God", then why do I still need His grace to help me? I'm forgiven and set free so grace must have a bigger role to play than forgiveness.
When I think about it, the grace of God to me is His gentleness. It's the compassion in His love. God is love, but His character includes jealousy, anger, discipline, wrath, judgement, and revenge. That's the scarey side of God - the side you don't want to be on. On the other side is grace, joy, peace, forgiveness, compassion, provision, tenderness, beauty, mercy, encouragement. With God it's all love because it's all righteous, even the scarey stuff. But grace is to me His gentleness. It's what made Him look at us and help us to find Him, even though we were enemies with Him.
Taken that way, grace looks bigger than just a pardon. It's what moved God to forgive us in the first place, and it's how He loves us now. Hebrews 4:16 comes after a verse about temptation. You haven't sinned but you're tempted. You need God's help to prevent you from falling. You need His grace. You're in a very bad situation that you didn't invite or deserve. You need God's compassion to help you survive it. You need His grace.
Grace is for all occasions. It's there when you "need it most". It's God's helping hand, His gentleness, and compassion. It's why we love Him back.
The dictionary defines grace as "the unmerited favour of God". I can relate to that. But it takes humility to receive it. You have to acknowledge that it's unmerited or the whole idea, the whole blessing of grace just washes away. And I think that's the problem for me. There are certain things that I think I deserve from God. Justice is one of them, protection is another. I'm His daughter, right? I'm great at "coming boldly to the throne" and demanding what I want. I think if I allowed myself a better understanding of who I am compared to God, I wouldn't be so cocky. I also would know that I don't have to scream at Him to get Him to listen. I am "coming boldly to the throne of my gracious God" - that gentle guy who loves me and wants to help and provide and protect and bring justice and peace. It doesn't make sense that I would stand before Him and demand His unmerited favour. But despite my ignorance and pride, He keeps answering my prayers and blessing me when I don't expect it. I guess that's grace.
Thank you for revealing Your grace to me Lord.
"So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most." Hebrews 4:16
I've been a Christian for a while but my understanding of grace hadn't expanded beyond God's forgiveness of our sins. It's what leads us to salvation.
But then I come across verses like the one in Hebrews and I think that grace must be bigger than that. If I was forgiven for all my sins when I accepted Christ, my past, present, and future sins and can now "come boldly to the throne of" my "gracious God", then why do I still need His grace to help me? I'm forgiven and set free so grace must have a bigger role to play than forgiveness.
When I think about it, the grace of God to me is His gentleness. It's the compassion in His love. God is love, but His character includes jealousy, anger, discipline, wrath, judgement, and revenge. That's the scarey side of God - the side you don't want to be on. On the other side is grace, joy, peace, forgiveness, compassion, provision, tenderness, beauty, mercy, encouragement. With God it's all love because it's all righteous, even the scarey stuff. But grace is to me His gentleness. It's what made Him look at us and help us to find Him, even though we were enemies with Him.
Taken that way, grace looks bigger than just a pardon. It's what moved God to forgive us in the first place, and it's how He loves us now. Hebrews 4:16 comes after a verse about temptation. You haven't sinned but you're tempted. You need God's help to prevent you from falling. You need His grace. You're in a very bad situation that you didn't invite or deserve. You need God's compassion to help you survive it. You need His grace.
Grace is for all occasions. It's there when you "need it most". It's God's helping hand, His gentleness, and compassion. It's why we love Him back.
The dictionary defines grace as "the unmerited favour of God". I can relate to that. But it takes humility to receive it. You have to acknowledge that it's unmerited or the whole idea, the whole blessing of grace just washes away. And I think that's the problem for me. There are certain things that I think I deserve from God. Justice is one of them, protection is another. I'm His daughter, right? I'm great at "coming boldly to the throne" and demanding what I want. I think if I allowed myself a better understanding of who I am compared to God, I wouldn't be so cocky. I also would know that I don't have to scream at Him to get Him to listen. I am "coming boldly to the throne of my gracious God" - that gentle guy who loves me and wants to help and provide and protect and bring justice and peace. It doesn't make sense that I would stand before Him and demand His unmerited favour. But despite my ignorance and pride, He keeps answering my prayers and blessing me when I don't expect it. I guess that's grace.
Thank you for revealing Your grace to me Lord.
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