Encouraging Words-What Is Grace?

Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."
Acts 15:10-11 (NIV)

I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"
Galatians 2:21 (NIV)

I came into a situation last week that caused me to ponder the meaning of grace, and wouldn't you know it I had just picked up Phillip Yancey's book "What's So Amazing About Grace?"  I love when God does stuff like that.  In the first chapter, Yancey provided the best definition I have found of the word grace in a Christian context--A gift that costs everything for the giver and nothing for the recipient.

That doesn't seem very fair, does it?  Well, that's kind of the point.  Grace is not about being fair, and praise the Lord for that.  If He was being fair, none of us would be seeing heaven since we have all sinned.  By His Grace, though, we are saved through the act of Jesus substituting Himself in payment for our sins.  His grace if sufficient for us all!

When we are in a state of grace, we realize that God's kingdom exists and depends not on our performance (or lack of such) but on Jesus.  We don't have to earn our place in the Kingdom (good thing, because we couldn't), we only have to follow Jesus and receive His give of salvation.

Receiving grace, like receiving forgiveness, is tough though.  We are so used to earning things through our own efforts that it is hard to accept the fact that God's grace is a gift he gives freely to believers.  Who does a crazy thing like giving away the greatest gift in all the universe?  God.

For us to walk fully in grace, though, we need to not just be receivers but also givers.  Like the servant who received the grace of having a large debt forgiven then went and shook down someone who owed him money (Matthew 21:23-35), we miss the full blessing when we are unwilling to demonstrate grace to others.

Are you waiting for someone you are in conflict with to make the first move toward you?  Are you having trouble in your relationship, at your job, allowing anger and resentment to fester inside of you because you're right and it's up to the other person to seek forgiveness?  Then you're missing the point.  The whole concept of grace is that the other person doesn't deserve it.  If you set conditions for someone to meet, then what you are giving them is not grace. 

Jesus didn't set conditions at the cross.  He took the fall for us.  I encourage you this week to take a few steps in His sandals and reach out to someone you would desperately love to slap silly and, instead of giving them what you believe they deserve, cover them with grace.  Pay the price for their transgression like our Lord did for us.  Punishing someone for something they did to you seldom impacts their lives, but through grace showing them the love of Jesus, now THAT can make a difference.