The thing about grace is that we’ve got it all wrong.
This is something I have been thinking about a lot recently since a conversation with a good friend and some podcasts I’ve been listening to, so hear me out.
Grace is a gift. Freely given and freely received. A lot of the time though, we treat it as a favor that we can pay back, and so we do this and do that; try harder; read our bibles more; work on our morals, etc., etc., all to fall short and be filled with shame and disappointment in ourselves and feelings of not being good enough or worthy.
But here’s the thing: we can’t ever do enough to pay it back.
Here’s the even cooler thing: WE DON’T HAVE TO.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Ephesians 2:8-9
See that word there “gift”, our response to that is to receive. God doesn’t expect us to “pay Him back.” He knows that we can’t, just like He knew that we couldn’t save ourselves from sin and that’s why He sent His Son. He did it out of great love and desire to be in relationship with us; something that sins keeps us from.
A gift with no strings attached or no catch goes against everything our culture enforces. We think: something given comes with an obligation to give back; if you want something, you have to earn it; if you want gifts at Christmas, you have to be good; on and on the list could go.
But here’s the thing, God and His great gift doesn’t work the way our culture does: it’s counter cultural.
It doesn’t make sense in our human brains a lot of the time, but that’s okay. The One who understands everything, the One who created the world, He’s got it all under control, and the cool thing about it is He has what’s best for you in mind.
It’s funny when I have these conversations about receiving grace because my ending question is always, “So how do I live in light of that?”
Sometimes it’s so hard to break away from something ingrained into you your whole life; do, do, do, earn, earn, earn.
Ephesians 4:1-3 gives us the answer, but it’s not something we would expect.
“I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called with all humility, and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
Paul doesn’t give a laundry list of “do’s” and “dont’s.” He’s painting a picture for us of what someone’s life, who has received the gift of grace, should look like. To walk in humility, be gentle, and patient, keeping unity by bearing with one another.
It’s easy to say all these things, and maybe you’ve known Jesus your whole life and have heard this multiple times before, but the real kicker is living it out. Until we start believing what true grace is and living in it, nothing will change. Our lives won’t look much different from those of the world.
But true freedom comes when we fully grasp the gift of grace.
That, my friends, is my prayer for you and I pray that I will be able to share that with those that I met next year on the Race.
Thanks for reading my rambling thoughts! I hope you were encouraged 🙂
