Living out God's grace

 

It is not by accident that the hymn, Amazing Grace is a favorite for so many. It captures so well the essence of what attracted us to Jesus and redeemed us, and it will indeed be something that we will spend eternity trying to comprehend. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9)."

I am convinced that we will never fully understand the full scope of God's grace on this side of eternity, but that it must be something we push into daily. The more we understand His grace in our lives, the more content we are in Jesus, the more grace we show others, and the more we look like Jesus. He is the essence of grace, which made Him the magnet for the people He encountered.

Understanding grace is a life changer for us and how we relate to others. Too often, we are recipients of God's grace but are not students of what it means to extend that same grace to others. Legalism, conditional acceptance, interpersonal conflict, and lack of love, even in the church, are evidence of the great need for God's people to grow in grace. Knowing the truth is not enough for Christ's followers. Living out the truth with the grace of Christ is what will attract others to us and then to Jesus. Jesus came full of "grace and truth." Do we?

For instance, when I truly understand and live out grace:

-I no longer try to earn God's favor but understand that there is nothing I can do to make Him love me more, and there is nothing I can do to make Him love me less. Therefore I can be joyful and content in my daily walk with Him.

-I do not need to play the role of the Holy Spirit in the lives of others but rather extend to them the grace God extends to me, pray for them, and be patient with their faults as God is with mine. I am slow to judge, quick to think the best, and remember how patient and gracious God is with me in my personal growth as I extend that same attitude toward others.

-I can forgive myself for my shortcomings, knowing God has already done that. My motivation to grow in my obedience is no longer about earning His favor but rather wanting to please Him out of gratitude for His amazing love.

-I forgive others quickly, knowing that Jesus extends that gift to me daily. I cannot withhold from others what Jesus has so graciously extended to me. I don't give people what they deserve but what they don't deserve, just as Jesus did not give us what we deserve.

-I no longer look at people the way the world does but know that every individual I encounter has eternal value in His eyes and, therefore, must in my eyes. I go out of my way to love those that others don't love and to give value to those that others forget. 

-I don't display conditional love, just as Jesus does not give me conditional love. Unconditional love is the love of grace, an act of our will based on God's unconditional love for me.

-I love to surprise people with grace when they least expect or even deserve it. Just like Jesus with tax collectors, prostitutes, adulterers, lepers, and all considered undeserving and worthy only of judgment. After all, God surprised us with grace when we did not deserve or expect it.

-I am not hard or harsh, even when I need to bring correction to a brother or sister. Rather, my motivation is always love that comes out of God's gracious love in my own life. I display toward others the same graciousness that God gives to me daily.

-I love to encourage those who have messed up that God is not finished with them yet and that He can redeem their sin and give them hope and a purpose. After all, that is what God did for us. He is the hope for the broken, the guilty, and the hopeless. There is no person and no situation that God cannot redeem so we become evangelists of His hope.

There are many other characteristics of living out a life of grace. One of the most valuable things we can do is to regularly think about our relationships, attitudes, words, and actions from a filter of God's grace to us. Reading the gospels regularly helps us to capture the secrets of Jesus' grace to inform us of what it means to live a grace-filled life.

Embracing His Grace

 

If there is one word that describes Jesus it is the word grace. John describes Jesus this way in John 1:14. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, Full of grace and truth.” He says further, “Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” 

Jesus was a person of Grace who offers us grace and invites us to live in His grace. It is the greatest gift we could ever have. 

I had a favorite uncle. His name was Warren. The thing that was so wonderful about Warren is that when you were with him you always felt absolutely accepted and loved. There was no judgment. It was pure acceptance and love. It was very different from a lot of Christians I knew who were critics and legalists rather than lovers and acceptors. To be in Warren’s presence was to feel totally accepted. That is grace.

In the passage we read from John above, it says Jesus came full of grace and truth. Phil Yancey writes this in his book, Vanishing Grace, “The church has worked tirelessly on the truth part of that formula: witness the church councils, creeds, volumes of theology, and denominational splits over minor points of doctrine. I yearn for the church to compete just as hard in conveying what Paul calls the “incomparable riches” of God’s grace. Often it seems, we’re perceived more as guilt dispensers than as grace dispensers.” 

To be a grace dispenser we need to live in that amazing grace ourselves. Perhaps our problem is that we don’t understand grace. Paul writes this about how we come into relationship with God. “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved…and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can  boast.” (Ephesians 2:4-9).

How did we come to God? By grace. We did nothing except choose to believe. And even this was grace. We didn’t come into relationship with Him out of any goodness on our part. In fact, we were dead in transgressions but by His grace we were saved. In fact, there is nothing you can do to make God love you more and there is nothing you can do to make Him love you less. We exist as Christ followers in His grace from start to finish. We live in His grace.

We often think that we need to live up to some standard in order for God to accept and love us. That is not true. He loves us regardless with an amazing love. He calls us out of that place of love and grace to follow Him which means changes in our lives but it is not out of earning any love from God. You cannot earn His love. He offers it freely along with his forgiveness and salvation. Period. Full stop. 

This is what I experienced when I was in the presence of uncle Warren. He exuded love and acceptance and grace. He was like Jesus. Unlike a lot of other people I have encountered whose acceptance you needed to earn and whose critical spirit wounded you and you never felt good enough. Many churches are like that but that is not Jesus.

It is no secret that we Christians can be the most critical and unloving people, both with each other and with those who we perceive to be antagonistic toward God. When we are critical and unloving to fellow believers we miss the point of grace which is that it cannot be earned. If God accepts them I need to as well. In our critical spirit we kill the grace of Jesus, and in effect, require others to earn our love even though Jesus freely gave us His love. 

When we are unloving to those who don’t claim to be believers in the name of defending truth we miss the spirit of Jesus as well. Henri Nouwen, one of my favorite authors, prayed this about those who he could see as enemies or ungodly. “God, help me to see others not as my enemies or as ungodly but rather as thirsty people. And give me the courage and compassion to offer your Living Water, which alone quenches deep thirst.” 

In a New York Times Opinion Piece, Peter Wehner wrote this. “If you find yourself in the company of people whose hearts have been captured by grace, count yourself lucky. They love us despite our messy lives, stay connected to us through our struggles, always holding out the hope of redemption. When relationships are broken, my wife Cindy told me, it’s grace that causes people not to give up, to extend the invitation to reconnect, to work through misunderstandings with sensitivity and transparency.

You don’t sense hard edges, dogmatism or self-righteous judgment from gracious people. There’s a tenderness about them that opens doors that had previously been bolted shut. People who have been transformed by grace have a special place in their hearts for those living in the shadows of society. They’re easily moved by stories of suffering and step into the breach to heal. And grace properly understood always produces gratitude.”

That was my uncle Warren. That is Jesus. That is what we all long for and that is the gift of grace. As Philip Yancey says, we can be guilt dispensers or grace dispensers. I pray that God would make me much more of a grace dispenser as I understand how God loves and accepts me. 

Grace dispensers are like magnets to others because they exhibit the character of Jesus. Churches that are places of grace and acceptance are all too rare and so beautiful when found. So here are two questions for us today. Are we living in the grace of Jesus rather than trying to earn his love? And, are we like Jesus in dispensing his Grace to all those around us. Even those we consider ungodly and our enemies?