Talking About Grace

Just trimming hedges and washing cars...(more on this later)

Grace. When you hear that word, how many think of Seinfeld episode when Elaine meets Mr. Pitt for the first time. "You don't want too much grace, or you won't be able to stand," said Mr. Pitt to Elaine.

Of course, Mr. Pitt was referring to the kind of grace that is defined as elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action. Of course, being Thanksgiving, many of us will be saying grace on Thursday before our meal. There's a boat load of ways to define grace, but my favorite definition is "mercy; clemency; pardon; reprieve," which I found on dictionary.com.

At one point or another, every Christian struggles with the idea of grace. It comes after we recognize how sinful we are and teams with this societal message that says we have to work hard to earn favor. I realize I'm tackling an incredibly deep subject here and I'm not going to even come close to explaining grace, because in all truthfulness I can't. But I'd just like to say what it means in the scope of my world.

Let me backtrack to the concept of earning favor. It's in everything we do. I can't make money unless I go to work and earn it. I can't get promoted unless I earn the favor of the boss. This idea of earning favor doesn't work when trying to understand grace? Throw it out the window. It's no applicable.

Romans 11:6-7 tell me everything I need to know. "And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work." I know, Paul's writing is a bet tough to read sometimes, but it all boils down to grace is not work. And work is not grace.

Reading the Old Testament, it's clear that the former law was all about works. Animals had to be sacrificed, if you got sick you had to bath, shave your head and beard, stay outside the camp for a week. The only way to gain a reprieve was through some type of manual action. But Ephesians 2 tell us that things changed. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."

Check out Romans 5:12-21. It tells us that there is a free gift. That's key. Free. That gift comes from Jesus' righteous act on the cross.

There it is again; the idea that grace (and salvation) is a gift. Think quickly about Christmas and your birthday when you receive gifts. With me, I know that I couldn't be more undeserving of presents. I'm hardly the best son, grandson or boyfriend I could be, but the people that love me are going to give me a gift. When I receive, I'm am certainly not going to tell everyone that they owed it to me. And this is the same with God's gift of grace. I can't earn his present, He just gives it to me because He loves me. You earn wages and pay, not gifts.

Naturally, when someone gives me a gift, I send them a thank you note. God's gift of grace (forgiveness, reprieve from sin) is an incredible gift. How could I possibly repay him for it? The great thing about God is that He's not asking me to repay Him. I heard a preacher tell a story about someone who was a million dollars in debt and in serious trouble. A fellow walked up to him and handed him one million dollars, no strings attached. The receiver was able to escape all of his financial problems and escape possible harm, but how could he ever repay the fellow that gave him the money? There's no way he could ever pay him back, but he feels like he should. So he starts washing the fellow's car, trimming his hedges and mowing his grass.

That's exactly what we are supposed to be doing for God, washing His car...figuratively of course. He's given us His grace and we can't earn it no matter how many times we wash, wax and windex, but we can show him gratitude by loving Him. Jesus said "this is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." Romans 13 says "Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law."

So there it is. I know I struggled with grace for a period and it weighed me down so much that I became unproductive and just worried about my salvation all the time. But I got a grasp on grace only when I put complete trust in God and stopped thinking that I had work my way out of sin. Understanding this has given me so much joy and I am carefree. Certainly, as Paul warned, it does not give me a license to sin or a free pass, but it does give me power over sin because I can ask God for forgiveness and He will grant me that unendingly.

Sometimes grace can best be explained through a well-stated personal testimony. One of the best I've heard is in a song. I've known the words pretty much all my life, but honestly, it never really hit home until I looked up the lyrics tonight. It explains grace so perfectly. With it I learned to obey God and to never again have to worry about the bonds of sin. Here it is.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me.
Twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed.