Amazing Grace

Christians know grace. We embrace grace. Grace is great. We know that "by grace you are saved through faith." Really, really good stuff. We know that God's awesome grace is infinite and marvelous ... hold it! Hang on a minute. Did you just say "infinite"? Perhaps we ought to stop and think this through.

Grace, as we know, is not the normal condition in human experience. It is unmerited favor. It is receiving what we don't deserve from God. It is the sole method whereby we can be saved. It is, in a sense, a contradiction to reality. Where reality would call for justice, God offers His Son. And so easily are we confused at this point that we often tend toward two mistakes: We often either disbelieve it or demand it. We might embrace "saved by grace", but we tend toward "saved by works" because that makes sense to us where the other does not. Or if we've genuinely grasped grace, we begin to expect it rather than be grateful for it. That is, if God doesn't show it on some occasion or another, we're put out. "Hey! Where's my grace??!" Neither fits in genuine grace. It is neither a myth nor an obligation. It is, in this way, truly amazing.

Grace is the means of salvation (Titus 2:11). While we deserve justice and, thus, punishment, mercy withholds that which we deserve and grace provides that which we do not. Mercy keeps us from judgment and grace provides us with the righteousness of Christ. And a simple awareness of the vastness of the offense of sin makes grace really, really big. In this way, grace is truly amazing.

Grace is not,however, infinite. God it not obligated to give it, something that makes it even bigger. There are times that God will withhold His favor because grace is not infinite. He does it for His good purposes and does it out of love (Heb 12:5-11), but there are times when God's "favor" doesn't seem to be our lot. Nor is it infinite toward unbelievers. He who will not believe "is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God" (John 3:18). That is not grace. Grace is not infinite. As such, when we get it, it is truly amazing.

Grace is the Christian's life. We were dead in sin (Eph 2:1), "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ -- by grace you have been saved -- and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Eph 2:4-7). Grace is the cause of our new birth. Every blessing you ever receive is an act of grace. Every breath you draw is a gift of God's grace. Through grace God provides us with consolation and hope (2 Thess 2:16). We were chosen as sons to the praise of the glory of His grace (Eph 1:6). Every good thing you do is empowered by God's grace (2 Cor 9:8). Spiritual gifts are provided by God's grace (Rom 12:6). Paul says, "I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor 15:9-10).

Grace is not infinite. And we can abuse grace. But God's unmerited favor toward us that causes Him to save us and bless us with every heavenly blessing, to call us to Himself, to give us new life, to empower us to follow Him and enable us to serve Him, that truly is amazing grace. I suspect it's bigger than we typically imagine. Truly amazing!