New Reminders: Grace

The word “grace” can be interpreted in various ways.   For example, it can be used to describe movements as in the grace of a ballerina’s performance or a swan’s elegant glide across a lake.  It can also describe an attitude as in a person responding kindly toward another person or a company extending a deadline as in a grace period before a payment is due. Five common characteristics of grace are sometimes spelled out using the acronym G R A C E. They include Gratitude, Resilience, Action, Compassion, and Empathy, focusing on unearned favor, inner strength, purposeful change, care for others, and understanding. Other descriptions use words such as forgiveness, generosity, humility, and service to others, or actions like building up, listening, and giving without expecting anything in return.

It is easy to confuse the word grace with the word mercy, but they are not the same. An analogy that illustrates the difference might help explain.  Mercy is having a judge offer a lighter sentence because the defendant is a first-time offender and has expressed remorse for what he has done.  Grace is having the judge also offer the defendant a job mowing his lawn to provide him with an income.  In this case, the judge extended mercy by not imposing the punishment the defendant deserved. The judge also extended grace by offering the defendant a job he did not deserve. There are many times in our everyday lives that we know we have received more or less than we thought we deserved. For example, you were speeding, but didn’t get a ticket, or you worked overtime but your boss didn’t even thank you, let alone pay you, for the extra work.   

The apostle Paul begged God to remove the thorn in his flesh, but God said the words in 1Corinthians 12:9: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” This verse promises that God's strength is best displayed through human limitations. It means that God's favor and power are enough to sustain believers through hardship, rather than removing the struggle, God extends both grace and mercy by forgiving us of our sins while at the same time offering us a place in heaven that we have not and cannot earn.

Ephesians 2:8-9 clearly states: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” In other words, we cannot earn our way to heaven. It is by the grace of God that we are permitted to accept his mercy and believe (have faith) that He will also provide the unearned gift of salvation and a place in heaven. John 1:17 states: “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”  It was through Jesus Christ’s death on the cross that we have been saved.  It was He, not we, who earned our salvation which was God’s gift to all who believe!