What Is Grace?

“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” – Hebrews 4:16. 

The search for the perfect gift can be a maddening one. There’s always at least one person who either seems to have everything or doesn’t want anything. And a gift card just won’t do. But in spite of the difficulties there is still that one expression of our love and creativity that will earn us a nomination as gift giver of the year. It is especially gratifying to find that one special gift when the person we are buying the gift for deserves our time and commitment. We are fortunate that God did not measure our worthiness before giving us the gift of His Son. “Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!” (2 Corinthians 9:15) The NIV says, “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” The ESV calls it an “inexpressible” gift. 

It is all of those things. The gifts we receive at Christmas or our birthday, even the most creative ones are describable. Some may seem too wonderful for words, but only the gift of Jesus Christ is one that couldn’t be truly put into words. How does one describe that which is indescribable?

In Psalm 103, there’s a laundry list of just some of the things God does in our lives by grace. The psalmist says, “may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things…The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. He does not punish us for all our sins;” Is that grace? It certainly is. 

It is grace and grace alone that God doesn’t give us what we deserve, but rather gives us what we need. We should be eternally grateful for the grace of God. We were basically in pretty bad shape before we met the Savior. We will never be able to answer what we did to deserve a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Before grace our life had little meaning and little hope. We were headed for an eternity separated from God. There was nothing we could do about it. We would never be good enough to earn our salvation. But God changed all that when He died on the cross for you and me. And although the song Amazing Grace is an amazing song, it cannot fully capture the infinite inexhaustible grace of God.  

God’s grace is truly indescribable. I hope that each day we see, understand and are overwhelmed by His grace as we were when we accepted Him into our life as Savior. And I hope we not only understand God’s grace, but live it and give it to others.  

Discussion Questions: 

1. How can grace be summarized?
2. How can God’s overcoming, or irresistible grace be part of our lives this week?