Because of His Grace
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2Cor. 12:9) Grace is an unconventional word in modern culture. It cuts across our desire to demand justice or insist upon retribution. It takes the hammer out of our hand and replaces it with kindness and forgiveness. As followers of Jesus, it calls us to be like Him.
Neither you nor I deserve God’s unfathomable grace, and that is what makes it so special. In His goodness and mercy, the Lord offers to us what we do not deserve and holds back from us what we do deserve. Grace is the ocean we swim in as His children because we continually fall short of His standard of perfection and are constantly running to Christ for mercy and grace.
It is easy for us to elevate ourselves when we see someone doing something we don’t think we would ever do. Pride slips in and we say, “How could they do that?” However, we quickly forget about the things we have all done at one time in our life. Some of us may have a larger closet than others, but we all have bones in our closet! Only ONE perfect person walked this earth and they nailed him to a cross.
Jesus did not save us so that we could take His place as the judge of others. Instead, he redeemed us so that we could extend his grace to them. Our job is to reveal God’s love, mercy and truth to those around us. And we can not do this properly apart from the enabling work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. But then again, we don’t have to because the Lord gives us His Spirit when we surrender to Him through faith.
Who better to extend God’s grace to others than the ones who have been given grace themselves? In the high plan of our Father’s wisdom, he chooses to use recipients of grace to become dispensers of grace. We are best at giving away that which we have freely received because it prevents us from bragging about ourselves. We can only brag about the giver.
It is easy to become cynical and judgmental when we look around at life. And truth demands that we stand up for what is right and speak out concerning those things that are wrong. However, let us always be careful that when we speak out against something, that we do not fail to offer grace to the hearers. The Lord did not redeem you and me because of any good qualities we have or great works we have accomplished. Jesus rescued us because he loves us, because man is the masterpiece of His creation, and because of his mercy. Let us not forget that He saved us….Because of His Grace!
