Webster’s Dictionary defines grace as: “a special favor; disposition to or an act or instance of kindness, courtesy, or clemency; a temporary exemption.” We walk through life thinking we understand the term. The bank gives us a grace period. The dancer is so graceful. The woman was so gracious. But to me… grace is something more. It is more than the songs I sing in church. It is something bigger. It is what my heart clings to.
I read an article a few years ago about a young girl who had died in a skiing accident. Her parents decided to donate her organs, so her heart went to another young girl across the country who was clinging to life. Their choice to donate their daughter’s heart allowed for someone else to have a fresh start to life. The most beautiful part of the story was, those parents got to hear their daughter’s heartbeat again. Although her heart indwelled in a different body, the heart they heard that day was the heart of their little girl.
This beautiful story made me start to think about my own life. How Christ was the one that brought a fresh start in life for me! And how God is the parent listening to “my heart” but hearing the heartbeat of His Perfect Child. The realization brings tears to my eyes, because not only is my Savior behind me, in front of me, and with me…. HE IS INSIDE ME. Colossians 1:27 talks about how CHRIST IS IN YOU AND ME. I am a flawed person in whom Christ (the most blameless one) is dwelling. God cracked open my chest, removed my poisoned heart, and replaced it with His own! He doesn’t look at me as a dirty, unworthy human…. He looks at me as His righteous and blameless daughter. You find this grace ALL throughout the Bible. One of my favorites is in John with the adulterous woman. She was caught in the very act, there was no denying it. No pleading for mercy. Nothing! The people around her were already squeezing the stones to throw at her. BUT Jesus came in and stooped down to write in the dirt. The Messiah, the King of kings, someone who could have very well ascended a platform and started speaking…. but instead, He leaned over.
Jesus is prone to stoop. He stooped low enough to sleep in a feeding trough, to work as a carpenter, to sleep in a fishing boat. He stooped to wash feet, to embrace children. He stooped to pull Peter out of the sea, to pray in the Garden. He stooped low enough to rub shoulders with crooks and lepers. Low enough to be spat upon, slapped, whipped, nailed, and speared. He stooped to carry the cross. He even stooped low enough to be buried. But then He stood. He rose right up in Satan’s face, tall and high. He stood up for the adulterous woman, and He definitely stands up for me. He stoops and RESCUES me! Daily He goes to battle on my behalf… knowing He already won the victory!
Grace isn’t about second chances… it is about sixth, seventh, and millionth chances. Grace is looking God in the eye even when I am painfully aware of all that I lack. Grace is when I finally stop trying to earn love and realize that I was the only one keeping score. I still don’t understand how the God of the universe could look at me, straight through my soul, and say there are no flaws… but He does, and for that I am truly thankful.
Grace exists because Christ does. Grace works because Christ works. Grace matters because Christ matters.
