Saved By Grace

I grew up always hearing about grace and how God's "Amazing grace saved a wretch like me". But I think that it was something that I really had trouble fully comprehending, and still am in awe of, even now. Grace is used many times in the bible, but do we really get what it means? For a long time I used the words mercy and grace innerchangably and thought that they pretty much meant the same thing. But actually mercy means not getting a punishment that you deserve, while grace is getting something that you do not deserve. 

The dictionary definition of grace is: The free and unmerited favor of God as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings. Unmerited means something that is not deserved and it is hard to accurately translate the meaning of favor in the bible, but it basically means preferential treatment denoting acceptance, approval, and pleasure. Wow! Just the definition of grace blows me away. I am a sinner, I am broken, I am undeserving of favor. Yet God has chosen me!! He looks past my brokenness and says; "I have chosen you and I love you" Nothing I can do can be good enough to deserve what God has given me, but He gives it freely anyways. He looks upon me in pleasure, not because of anything I have done, but because of who HE is. 

Every single day I make mistakes that show to me just how undeserving I am of God. Whether it is reacting unkindly towards someone, letting my anger get the best of me, or having a negative thought about someone; the majority of my actions are undeserving of God. And this doesn't even take into account the "big sins" (in our human perception) that I and others commit. Yet God's grace covers my sins, it is what allows me to start fresh each day and is what allows me to continue to push forward despite my failures.

2 Corinthians 12:8-9 says, "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness,'" Sometimes things happen as a natural consequence of our choices, sometimes God allows things to happen, and sometimes things happen that have nothing to do with our own choices. When I screw up it is the grace of God-Jesus's sacrifice on the cross that keeps me from getting what I deserve. And when something happens that has nothing to do with my actions it is still God's grace that pulls me through. My weakness whether it is because of sin or my limited ability as a human is NOT a bad thing because through MY weakness, God has shown me grace and that is when His ultimate power can be seen. 

There are currently situations in my life where God's grace has become very apparent to me. Some of the choices I have made caused those situations and I deserve death and separation from God, but His grace allows me to be in communion with Him and He carries me through these situations. And parts of the situations I have no control over, but God has been showing me over and over how these so called "bad things" are in my life for a reason and it is His grace that will carry me through and help me to come out stronger. And as I rely on God and the grace He has bestowed upon me, these tough situations turn into blessings that make my life even fuller. 

"Do you find life too difficult for you? So did we, but not now, with the amplitudes of grace there are for us in Jesus Christ, it grows satisfying and successful and exciting beyond measure, becomes another and richer thing." -A.J. Gossip

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