"I am what I am by God's grace, and God's grace hasn't been for nothing," wrote Paul to the Corinthians.
I saw an Instagram photo this week in which someone had taken a picture of the dictionary definition of grace. The third one struck me with its simplicity – "unmerited favor." In another place it specifically listed the theological definition as "the unmerited, undeserved favor of God," and still in another it said "forgiveness, clemency, pardon."
Through my whole life I see that grace has been ever-present. By grace I have come to this place, and by grace I will get to the next. By grace I take every breath, and by grace I live. Really though, my favorite thing about grace is that it is wholly rooted in abundant love. Love is its life-source.
Mercy is also rooted in love, but it is rooted in a love that is focused on pardoning us from punishment. Mercy looks at us on our knees and grants pardon, and as we walk away released from our debt, grace grabs us from behind and says, "Wait! There's more." A wise man once said, "Mercy detaches us from our past; grace attaches us to our future." Mercy breaks the chains from our ankles; grace takes the first step. Mercy involves begging; grace involves surprising.
Love is infinitely more powerful than fear.
Mercy releases us from our fear before God and condemnation. Praise God for mercy.
Grace, however, demonstrates that God is not only interested in pardoning, He's most interested in loving. Growing. Strengthening. Building up. Restoring. Completing. Refining. Improving. Perfecting.
I suppose God could have stopped with mercy. He could have been satisfied with making our scarlet sins white as snow and leaving it at that, leaving us pardoned but with no future. Lucky for us, our God is much more kind than that. He doesn't care just about forgetting our past; He cares about giving us a new future. A second chance. An infinite number of chances. It is His foremost preoccupation to see His children become who He made them to be (matt 5:48). And we can do that by the power of His grace.
I absolutely relate to Paul when he says that God's grace, God's favor and blessing, has not been for nothing. If it had not been for the people in my life who, in the very image of God, showed me the same grace He has shown me, I would not have been able to change. When I least deserved to be shown favor, the favor I was shown enabled me to become more who I was created to be. That's what grace does for us. It gives us the power to approach the throne of God and say, "Hey, you know, I'm like this right now. Could you help me get where you want me to be?" And every time we do that, the heavens resound with an overwhelming yes, straight from Jesus' mouth (2 cor 1:20).
Grace enables us to begin the lifelong trek into eternity boldly, each day rejoicing that we're not where we were and that we're not where we will be.
Grace takes us as we are in the moment and provides us the power to change.
Grace finds us as we are, wipes the dirt off our face, and takes us by the hand in a new direction, the direction of honor and holiness (psalm 73). I love that we serve a God who is concerned not just with an erased past but a perfected future.
Know that wherever you are today, there is grace for you. There is grace from a loving God who sees you as you are and loves you as you are. You have the grace to be you, as ugly or as pretty as that might look, and you have the grace to become infinitely more than you could ever imagine.
I pray that we would all extend the same grace we are being shown to those around us, allowing them to be who they are for the day, hour, or even minute, knowing that they are in-process just as we are, and that behind that process is the handiwork of a God who knows nothing but Goodness and will see His purposes and promises carried through to completion (isaiah 46:10, phil 1:6). You are what you are by God's grace, and it hasn't been for nothing.
praise God from whom all blessings flow,
m
