I never quite understood its meaning. That is not the reason for my lack of words, however. I understood it to be similar to mercy. The mercy and grace of God were, to me, just God's way of showing me that I missed the mark, but I can have another go. To me, it was his way of taking me back to the default and seeing if it works again this time. Yet, in all my years up until now, I would never have thought it to be what God's Word has shown it to be.
When the Israelites were first introduced to the law of Moses, their way of doing things changed completely. With the law everything they did had a strict regime. When you stole something, you had to give back seven times what you stole. When you broke a vow, you had to sacrifice a female lamb that was pure or something along those lines. Structure had a whole new meaning. I can imagine someone thinking of doing something bad, but changing their mind because of the consequences and the work that was involved in acquitting yourself of those consequences. There was something so lacking in this concept though. That something was Jesus.
Man knows when they have sinned. If you don't, there is something seriously wrong with you. My self-conscious lets me know when I have stepped out of line and therefore I must correct the mistake made. However, most of the bad things we do are evidence of our humanity. Our human-ness, so to speak, stops us from doing what is right a lot of the time. But, if we are ever to attempt doing what is right when our nature is to do what is wrong then how are we ever to do what is right? Fear not, I have the answer. Freely given to me, I shall freely give to you. It is amazing. Well, more accurately, HE is amazing! His name is Jesus.
The law of Moses did what it was sent to do, but the completion of the law was seen in Jesus. The law created a need in people. The need for a saviour. There is no way that we could all live up to such a high standard when our very nature makes it impossible. Luke 1:37 says:
"Nothing is impossible with God."
This means that only with God does the impossible become possible. Therefore, as Jesus is God, when you accept Jesus into your life, the impossible becomes possible. This is where grace comes into play. You see, grace and mercy are so similar it is hard to tell them apart. Most of my life I confused grace with mercy. They are unique and yet work so intrinsically together. What is one without the other? To put it in terms easier for you understand, say you have a bank account that is $5000 in overdraft. Mercy is taking the account balance back to zero meaning you no longer have to pay the price. Grace, however, goes beyond that. Grace is taking that zero account balance up to $5000.
Grace is the outworking of the power of God in our lives. It is undeserved and therefore, we must value it. Mercy must come first, however. Jesus did that when he paid the price on the cross. Then He gave us Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is the power of God within us. Bear with me, all this will gain coherency very soon.
In Matthew 5:28, Jesus touches on the law of Moses, but then He does something unexpected. Where the law says if you lay with another woman, you have committed adultery, Jesus says if you even lust with your eyes, you have committed adultery. So now Jesus takes it up a notch. Just when you thought the law was hard, Jesus goes and throws it out of the park by raising the standard. This is where grace comes into play. What Jesus understood is that He brought grace to us. When we accept Jesus into our lives, we have access to the grace of God - FOR FREE! How does the grace of God apply? Well, just as I explained in the example above, grace goes above and beyond the call of duty. Hence, when Jesus raised the bar, He did so with a complete understanding that we could not do it on our own. Thus by His Holy Spirit, He bought grace into our lives to live at a higher level. Like I said, grace is the outworking of the power of God in our lives. Grace is what gives us the ability, the power to live where Jesus did. Now the impossible doesn't seem so impossible now does it?
Facing a challenge? Exams? Evangelising? Work? Faith? Understand that grace is the power of God that is free to all who will receive Him and receive it. Knowing that you cannot do it without God who brings grace is the beginning. Carrying out everything in our lives with the received grace of God is the journey of living at a higher level.
Now I understand that grace isn't His way of telling me I screwed up but I can do it again. Grace was God's way of telling me, "You're screwing up, now let me do it for you this time." It is undeniably the better way to do things. I am humbled by a God so powerful that He is strong enough to, not just walk besides me every day, but to take over when I cannot do it along.
What's so amazing about grace, you ask? Well I don't know if I understand fully, but all I know is this - it has saved a wretch like me.
-JP
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