GRACE

What is grace? Why is it important?

Many bookstores today carry a popular Christian book called “What's So Amazing About Grace?” The title of the book poses a very important question for Christians. Grace is a cornerstone of our belief system. Ephesians 2:8 tells us “It is by grace that you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

So we are saved by grace through faith. What does this mean? Most modern-day examples of grace that I have heard do not fully depict the awesomeness that grace truly is. Usually, the example that people use is someone giving you a gift; usually a large one, like a car or a house. While this does capture the point that grace is a free gift, it doesn't approach the most truly amazing part.

Get an image in your mind of one person who has hurt you worse than anybody else you can think of. Now imagine that you have heard this person is dying, and the only way their life can be spared is if you give yours in their place. Would you do it? Even more, would you do it and not expect anything in return from that person or anyone else? God would, and He did.

Congratulations, you've just understood grace. The human race throughout history has sinned against God in horrendous ways. The things we do that go against God on a daily basis are millions of times worse than any human being would forgive us for. Not only does God forgive us, but He offered the ultimate sacrifice. He came to this Earth in human form, suffered just as any of us suffer in our humanness, was tortured and willingly gave up His life on a cross; a humiliating way to die, so that all of us who have hurt him can have eternal life. We, essentially, act as his enemies. We have, at times, denied him, gone against him, ignored him, and still He gave his life for us.

In all of this, He asks for nothing in return. All we have to do is have faith in Him; believe in Him for who He truly is and what He has done for us. That's all there is to it. That's what's so amazing about grace.