God's Grace: It's More Than You Think
God’s Grace
It’s more than you think…
In a recent post I made a passing reference to God’s grace being not merely God’s forgiveness but the power God gives us to lead a new life. It dawned on me that that definition might not be obvious to everyone. So I thought I should flesh that out here because I don’t want you to miss out on all that God has for you. I’m going to quote a lot of Bible verses here to prove my point.
“God wants to pour out his goodness to you (grace) so you can, in turn, pour it out to others by doing good deeds for them.”
Defining Grace
The typical definition for grace has something to do with God’s kindness or forgiveness. Actually, that’s more of a definition for mercy. Mercy is when God doesn’t give us what we deserve (judgment). Grace is when God gives us what we DON’T deserve (any good thing).
For example, the apostle Paul said in his letter to the Ephesian church,
…it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— Ephesians 2:8
Paul tells us that our salvation is a gift from God. A gift is something that you didn’t earn. It was given to you based on the goodness of the giver. Grace is like that. Grace enriches you where you were once impoverished.
Grace Is A New Status With God
So what is it that God gave us that saves us? Forgiveness? No. Forgiveness is the word to describe what God kept from us, that is, his judgment. What God gave us is righteousness, a fancy word for a right standing with God. He gave us a new status with God. Paul put it this way…
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— Colossians 1:21,22
Did you catch that? Jesus’ death on the cross converted you from an enemy of God to a friend. Jesus made you holy in God’s sight… meaning that he sees you as perfect, without blemish and free from any accusation that someone might have against you.
This is your new status with God. It’s a gift. It’s grace.
You see, that’s much more than mere kindness or forgiveness. Forgiveness is a cleansing. Grace is an elevation. God reached down and brought you up to be on the same level as his Son.
Again, quoting Paul…
God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms… Ephesians 2:6
In Paul’s letter to the Roman church, he sees grace as a new status. Paul says that God’s grace “gifted” us with the status of being “justified” before God, that is, proven to be without fault…
…being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus… Romans 3:24
Grace Is A New Power From God
In Luke’s account of Jesus he uses the word “grace” to communicate a power given by God…
…with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. Acts 4:33
Grace, here, is associated with the power of the apostles testimony.
Luke also associates grace with power as he refers to Stephen.
Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. Acts 6:8
There are many more examples that I could share. I’ll leave that to your own study. But my point is that too often people have a watered down idea of God’s grace.
Grace is not mercy. Grace is God granting us something that we didn’t have before: status and power.
Don’t Miss Out On God’s Grace
This is why Paul said to the Corinthian church:
… we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain - 2 Corinthians 6:1
Paul didn’t want the church to miss out on all that God had for them in Christ. God has made us “rich” in our new status as God’s children…
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9
God’s Grace Empowers You To Serve Others
And because of this richness, God wants to use us to bless others…
God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; 2 Corinthians 9:8
God wants to pour out his goodness to you (grace) so you can, in turn, pour it out to others by doing good deeds for them.
Paul was convinced of this because he had experienced it himself…
And God has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 2 Corinthians 12:9
In Paul’s weakness, he felt the “gift/grace” of God’s power so he could serve the church.
God’s Grace For You
My point in all of this is to awaken you to something you may not be aware of. If you have put your faith in Jesus, you have a new status with God: perfect. Blameless. And God wants to gift you with not only a new status but a new power to live a new life that looks like your Father, God.
This grace saves you, but more than that, this grace raises you to the status of blameless child of God. And this same grace gifts you with the ability to change your life as well as be used to change the lives of others.
That’s grace.
It’s with this understanding of grace that led Paul to pray this prayer for the Ephesian church:
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 2:16-21
What would your life look like if you were full of the grace of God? How would things change for you? How would the people around you be impacted? It’s worth considering.
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