"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." -John 1:14
Have you ever been at a family gathering, maybe it's Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, and someone brings up a subject that you know is going to cause an uncomfortable reaction? Right when they bring it up, it feels like there is a moment of silence and a knot forms in your throat as you think, uh oh. Where is this going?
Can I be honest with you? Grace is one of those subjects that causes me to react in that manner. Whenever a preacher brings it up, I freeze wondering the route he is going to take with such a delicate subject.
You see, the devil has perverted grace in such a way that people can't agree to the theology of it and it causes many Christians to actually wander away from the faith. The truth is that grace isn't a theology, it's not a set of beliefs, it's not the name of a church (although their are many), grace is a person and His name is Jesus.
In the scripture above, John 1:14, states that Jesus was full of grace and truth. How Jesus modeled His life is the clearest example of what grace looks like and what grace does. So with that being said, what did Jesus' life look like? He healed people that didn't deserve to be healed. He fed people that didn't deserve to be fed. He loved people that didn't deserve to be loved. He didn't just extend grace, He is the embodiment of grace. One person said it like this, "grace is getting what you don't deserve and not getting what you do deserve." So because of grace, you can be healed. Because of grace, you can be whole. Because of grace, you can be saved.
We all didn't deserve much. Before the cross, we were enemies to God and we were doing our own thing. Our sin separated us and cut us off from Him. There was nothing we could have done to get back to Him or to deserve that relationship with Him. Our own good works amounted to a whole pile of nothing compared to an all-good, all-powerful God. However, God in His infinite love towards us decided to sacrifice Himself for us to be restored in friendship with Him. That was the ultimate act of grace and love. It was to get what we didn't deserve, which is salvation and friendship with God. Grace is why you are where you are.
There has been distortions from the enemy and teachers who don't know how to "rightly divide the Word of Truth". They interpret such love as to mean that you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, with whoever you want and God will overlook it. That Jesus paid for all sin past, present and future and as a result it eliminated the consequences of sin, while overlooking man's need to cooperate. Being that if you would only confess your sins and ask for forgiveness then is when you receive that forgiveness. It's such a distortion of truth that when John is writing to the churches in Revelation chapters two and three, Jesus is speaking to them and says that they "have the deeds of the Nicolatians, the deeds that I hate." The Nicolatians taught that you could have one foot in the church and one foot in the world. That grace was a license to sin and that God's grace allows you to do so. It's a lie, it's an abuse and it's wrong.
In Romans 6:1-2 it says, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" Clearly, grace empowers you, enables you and equips you to live free from sin. It's not a license to do whatever you want. It is the enabling power of God in the life of a believer. The very essence of the gospel isn't so you can just pray a prayer and go to heaven, but it's so you can access the very grace of God in all areas of your life. Spiritually, emotionally and physically. It goes beyond fire insurance so that you don't go to hell. It enables and empowers righteous living. It isn't a license to sin, but the power to live free from it.
God extends His grace towards you every single day. His grace is evident in that job that you have, His grace is shown when you wake up every day and it extends when you go to sleep at night in the comfort and safety of your own bed. He shows it to you because He loves you and we are to live a grace-filled life that is pleasing in His sight. A life free from sin, empowered by the Holy Spirit, showing grace to others.
Let me encourage you to do three things throughout this week:
Acknowledge Him working in your life.
Thank Him for it.
Tell others about it.
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