What is God’s grace? We’ve all heard about it, but can any of us really describe what God’s grace is? No…I’m not talking about the “grace” we say before we eat. Then what am I talking about? What is God’s grace? The grace I am talking about is defined as the undeserved love and salvation God gives to us.
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 (Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can brag about it).Ephesians 2:8-9
Grace is another word for the amazing, almost over the top, “oh wow” kindness that God pours over us. God’s greatest act of grace is the offer of salvation and eternal life. He offers this gift even though we have neglected, ignored, and rebelled against him.
God’s grace also helps set us free from the power of sin in our lives. When we accept Christ as our Savior, he forgives us of all of our past sins and willingly forgives us of our future sins when we come to him and truly repent. He forgives us so that each day we can make the choice to take over our sinful nature and live for Christ.
For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
Our lives are also changed by God’s grace because He gives us the ability to understand what it feels like to be loved even though we have not loved in return. Because of this, we should be willing to love others in the same way that God loves us.
Jesus took our place, bore our sins, and experienced God’s wrath over our acts of rebellion so that we would one day be able to spend eternity with our Heavenly Father.
We are able to better understand God’s grace (1) when we turn to God by confessing our sins regularly, and realizing we are not the good people we thought we were, (2) when we accept Christ’s sacrifice we enter into a personal relationship with the Lord, (3) and when we commit to God’s control and authority over our lives. God wants to guide our lives in a way that will further his Kingdom and glorify his name.
We were shown amazing love and kindness when we never should have been shown love and kindness. We cannot earn God’s grace or ever be good enough to deserve it.
Thankfully, God is merciful and does not treat us as our actions deserve but instead showers us with His grace (awesome love and kindness).