Grace: It's not just for dinner

Misunderstood, mystical, even to some people, mythical, the word "grace" is hazy and hard to grasp intellectually. Even though it is the subject of prayers, songs, and poems, grace is not rightly appreciated or understood apart from the scriptures.

Often referred to as a prayer before meals or the something that only certain holy people can receive, grace is the subject of many, many scripture verses. It has been simplified to mean God's riches at Christ's Expense or defined as God's unmerited favor, yet it is so much more.

"By grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God and not of works, lest anyone should boast."(Ephesians 2:8-9) Looking at this well-known verse, we see that grace comes through faith. So, believing God favors you with eternal life through faith in His Son, Jesus, and that this very faith is a gift of God, this is the action of grace in the believer's life. This grace should impact our lives as nothing else can. Amazing, abundant and available are all adjectives that apply to God's grace. Grace should move us toward God and energize us to serve others. Grace is all-sufficient for every need we have and is ours in Christ, offered to us freely yet at a great price. "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace ." (Ephesians 1:17)

We know grace and truth came through Jesus Christ when we read John 1:17. So to think grace is merely a perfunctory prayer recited before meals or is limited by some earned favor of human goodness is obviously erroneous.

To get a handle on grace we need to look at many Bible verses to see how it operates in the lives of believers and in the church. "Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified." (Acts 20:32) Here we see grace at work building up faith and confirming the promise of the New Covenant among those set apart, sanctified. And in another verse, "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) Here we see God, the giver of grace, who understands how we stumble under the weight of the law and our sinful nature, freely granting His righteousness to those who believe in His Son, Jesus, the crucified and risen One.

There is so much to learn about grace, but I leave that to you to honestly seek it out. It is sufficient to say that I won't, and I hope you won't, say grace is just for dinner anymore! Doma