The Power of Grace
Grace is a word that comes from the Latin gratia. It means to be grateful and thankful.
It’s that quality in the heart of God that causes Him not to deal with us according to our sins, or to retaliate against us according to our iniquities. It is God’s faithfulness to us, even when we are not faithful. In fact, it is what love must always be when it meets the unlovely, the weak, the inadequate, the undeserving, and the despicable.
God is willing to respond to need without reference to merit. It is unmerited favour.
‘And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.’
2 Corinthians 12:9
God is kind to us and wants the best for our lives. Discover’s God’s riches for our lives through grace he has given us as a free gift.
Paul confirms:
‘For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.’
Romans 6:20–23
If we were under the law, our sin would gather strength and hold us under its power; for it is the punishment of sin that a man comes under the power of sin. As we are under the covenant of grace, we are secured against the covenant. Grace is promised to us by which we are restored from our wandering, cleansed from our impurities and set free from chains of habit.
We all deserve to die because of the way we live, but God offers us eternal life as a free gift of His grace. Paul argues that we will want to live better lives to show God how much we appreciate His gift. But how is it that God will give us eternal life in the first place? What do we have to do to become eligible? We have to believe God or, to put it in Bible terminology: we need faith if we are to be justified.
‘Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.’
Romans 5:1,2
How God Changes Us
From time to time, we all see areas in our lives that we struggle with; areas that we wish could be different. It might be moral failures or habits that have us discouraged. How does God want us to approach those areas? Is there a way to find freedom and real change?
Yes.
What I have come to understand about God’s grace has made a powerful difference in my life. And I believe it can make a powerful difference in yours.
God’s grace pours out love, kindness, favour to all who will trust Him. You don’t have to earn it. You just have to be in relationship with Him to receive His grace.
We most need God’s grace when we become aware of aspects in our lives we know are wrong — things like: poor decisions, habits, behavior that we are ashamed of, areas we want God to change, but where we may fear His condemnation. If we have received Christ into our hearts, we have been declared His own, forgiven, and now under His grace. It is His grace that frees us and changes us.
‘For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace’
Romans 6:14
When we enter our relationship with God, we may think that He is like we are. We think that we need to hide our bad part from Him. However, if we try to hide unacceptable portions of our personality, we can lose touch with our real selves and we can lose touch with God.
God is not like this. His ways are not our ways. He doesn’t accept our good part and reject our bad part. He sees us as a whole person. He doesn’t see us as a split personality. He says, “Don’t try to make your bad part better. It’s impossible on your own. No matter how much better you can make it, it will never be good enough, because I am perfect. Give me your good part and your bad part and let me make you whole.”
‘Therefore, by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference. For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.’
Romans 3:20–24
What the law could not do, grace did.
‘Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein’.
Hebrews 13:9
It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace. God will do the same for us, if we come to Him in honesty.
How can we experience God’s grace?
It’s difficult to understand grace without understanding the law. We see God’s perfect law, His commands, how He wants us to live — and frankly we often don’t measure up. What do we do with the law? With God’s commands?
The law is like a mirror for us.
When you look into a mirror you may see a big smudge of dirt on your face that you didn’t know was there. The mirror can’t get rid of the dirt, but you’re really glad you looked at that mirror before you walked out the door. In the same way, God’s law reveals our shortcomings, our sins, and we are thankful to see them, so that we can bring them to God, and God can deal with them through His grace.
‘The law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ that we may be justified by faith.’
Galatians 3:24
When we come to Christ, we know we need a Saviour. The fact is, for the rest of our lives, we will always need a Saviour.
Author: Montie Douglas
