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
What is GRACE?
For one thing, it’s a “churchy” word that’s hard to describe. You have to experience grace before you can really understand the concept. And even more confusing is that grace is both a thing and a process.
Receiving an unexpected, luxurious gift is one way to picture grace. It comes straight out of the blue, and we did nothing to deserve such a priceless expression of love. What’s more, we know that we could never afford it ourselves.
But grace is also an ongoing transformation. It’s something that changes us from the inside out starting the day we ask Christ to live through us until the day we meet
Here’s one more picture of what grace is all about: Envision a block of fine marble that’s sculpted into a museum-quality masterpiece. With each tap of the chisel from the Artist’s expert hands, a work of beauty and craftsmanship emerges. It often takes much longer than anyone expects. But the results are both awesome and lasting.
These examples of grace paint a picture of a God whose love is relentless. Even before the foundation of the world, he decided to pay the exorbitant price for our countless failures in life. That payment was made through the death of his own son (Jesus) on the cross. What’s more, it’s only by grace that we have the faith to accept him as our Savior. We were once in prison awaiting the punishment we so rightly deserve, but God’s loving grace set us free.
Do you get the picture? We see that grace is both a thing and a transformation. It’s also a work in progress. But most of all, it’s God’s extraordinary gift of love to anyone who’s willing to accept it.
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