“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.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

It is a most beautiful word for all of us who know that we are not perfect, that we are flawed, that we are sinners who “fall short of the Glory of God.” (Romans 3:23b) That word is grace.  Grace has been defined as undeserved favor or unmerited favor. Grace is given to those who do not deserve to receive help from someone. Also, grace cannot be earned by one’s actions. When God offers us grace it is because we neither deserve it nor can we earn it. Grace can only come in the form of a gift. When we give gifts, they come from our compassion, care and love for someone. Gifts come to us not because we deserve them nor because we earn them. They come because someone cares for and loves us.

The Old Testament is filled with stories of man’s rebellion against God and man’s desire to do things man’s way. This always gets man in trouble until one would come along to point them back to God. Yet even these who God uses to point the people back to God, are aways shown, with their own struggle to be obedient. Even, David who is described as a man after God’s own heart, exposes the sin nature and breaks God’s commandments. We are all sinners, and the result of sin is death. “For the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 3:23a) This result is both deserved and earned.

Now through Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh, we are offered grace, which is a gift of God. This gift given to us by God comes with a very high price. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) God in the flesh would take our sin and our judgment upon the cross and die our death. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:23) God paid the price and now offers us a gift of grace, which gives us a new life in Jesus Christ.

This grace continues as we grow in our relationship with God, now as one of His own. We even grow in the wonder of God’s grace as we mature in our faith in Jesus Christ. Peter’s last words written to the church challenge us to grow in grace. “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.” (2 Peter 3:18)

God’s gift of grace challenges us to live our life, actively serving our Lord and each other. Paul recounts how God’s grace changed his motives and increased His desire to serve our Lord. “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:10) Everything Paul did was by the grace of God, which had changed Him from a persecutor of the church to an Apostle who wrote thirteen of the books of the New Testament. It is all by grace. Paul, in the opening of every book which he wrote, carried to his readers the importance of grace. He wanted them to know that from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ they were to receive grace and peace. (Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:3; 2 Corinthians 1:4; Galatians 1:3; Ephesians 1:2; Philippians 1:2; Colossians 1:2; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:2; 1 Timothy 1:2; 2 Timothy 1:2; Titus 1:4; Philemon 1:3) Peter would also say in the introduction of his two books, “Grace and peace be yours in abundance.” (1 Peter 1:2; 2 Peter 1:2)

When we receive God’s grace, God changes us. He gives us a new life and a new destiny. He also gives us a relationship with Him, which we are to tell others about so that they may have grace to change their lives and their destiny. So, as we walk with the Word of God, let us live in His grace and offer grace to others.

In the Love of Jesus,

Michael Block