Grace.
What is it? Grace is the free and unmerited favor of God. Now just take a minute and let that sink in. The free and unmerited favor of God. Free, that means we don’t have to give or do anything to for it. It is bestowed to us and does not need to be earned, the debt has already been paid. Unmerited – so although we do not deserve it, it is not only given to us but freely given to us.
I don’t know about you but sometimes I have a really difficult time wrapping my mind around this. Sometimes I have a hard time receiving God’s grace because I feel unworthy or ashamed. I mean I haven’t always done what was asked, I’m not brilliant, I have doubts, and I definitely stumble.
It’s then that I go back and look in my Bible at some of the people that God called to and used as an example of his unyielding grace. It wasn’t always the richest or mightiest or even the most faithful. It was Gideon who was afraid, Isaac the daydreamer, Rahab the prostitute, Jacob the liar, Jonah who ran from God, and David the adulterer and murderer. I am then reminded that God lifts up the broken and weak. And that sometimes it isn’t until we come to the end of ourselves that we can truly see the mercy and love that God has for us and depend on Him.
This year for me has been one of the hardest and frankly most shocking. It has been filled with loss, fear, pain, and self-doubt that for a while I could not see through. I can honestly say that being pushed to the end of myself I have never felt closer to God. It wasn’t until then that I started to truly hear His whisper. It wasn’t until I gave it all to Him that I started to see and follow the individual stones that He has laid in front of me, creating the path that I am now on. And although it wasn’t the one I expected what a crazy and beautifully fruitful path it has become.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Cor 12:9.
