Have you ever really thought about grace? Like really take more than a minute to see the absolute beauty in it.
Have you ever really thought about what it means? Have you looked at the grace of God in your own life past more than a half-hearted thank you because you’ve become so used to it?
I remember my freshman year of high school, I was leading a worship song that was all about the grace of God. The whole set was centered about this aspect of His character. When practice was over, my youth pastor sat me down and looked me dead in the eyes and asked, “Maggie, what is grace?”
I had no answer. Nothing. Nada. My mind was frozen.
I mean I’d grown up in church. Gone to a private Christian school. Grace was in the lingo, ya know? I accepted Jesus as a little girl on my bedroom floor with my parents. It was just a part of my life, not something that had saved my life.
So my youth pastor let me wrestle with the answer on my own and then gave me a definition I wouldn’t ever forget: grace is the unmerited favor of God freely given to sinners. That sounds kind of redundant but I think that’s kind of the point. The point is we literally did nothing to deserve it.
Let me say that again real quick.
WE DID LITERALLY NOTHING TO DESERVE IT. I CAN NEVER DO ANYTHING TO DESERVE THE FAVOR AND LOVE OF GOD. HE JUST LOVES ME. FOR WHO I AM, MESS AND ALL.
Y’all, I don’t know where you are in your life. I don’t know if you are living free in the grace of God or refusing to believe He could love you because of who you are. But this is some GOOD TRUTH.
It’s life changing truth.
Because we live differently when we begin to understand how underserved the love of God is. And I’m not just talking about the personal joy that floods our lives. We treat people differently too. Because we have the grace to give.
1 John 4:19 says, “We love because He first loved us.” Sometimes, I have to change it to “I have grace because first He gave grace to me” even though love and grace flow out of the same vein.
What we do in our relationships with people is effected by our relationship with the Lord, even when we don’t realize it. God commands us to love Him above all else because our love for others flows from that.
Because here’s the thing about the grace God has given us. It isn’t just for us. God didn’t give me grace and give me life for me to sit in my little bubble and praise Him for my own redemption. (Even reading that it looks silly but sometimes that’s how we think.)
I have this mental picture of the grace God has given us flowing directly through our hearts onto the people around us. Kind of like a waterfall with a pool at the bottom that’s overflowing, ya feel?
The truth is, people are people. We are all imperfect, which means we are going to have pain in our relationships. Our friends are going to disappoint us at the very least. And sometimes, friends or family break our hearts past so much more than disappointment.
Grace is so hard. If I’m honest, there are people in my life that have broken my heart and I don’t want to give them grace. It’s not my human reaction. From my perspective, they should have known better or loved me more than that. They don’t deserve my grace.
But. That. Is. The. Point.
I don’t deserve God’s grace but I am so thankful He gave it to me anyways, and that He doesn’t take it back. So when the people around me do things to hurt me or offend me, regardless of what I think they deserve, shouldn’t I give them grace anyways? Because that’s what Jesus does for me daily. And I’m talking DAILY.
That Sunday, I lead worship differently than I had practiced it. Because I was starting to understand grace. At least, I had a definition for it. I’d always known I didn’t deserve it. But that night, it connected.
This past weekend, my youth pastor and I were talking about that moment four years ago. At the time, neither one of us knew what God was going to do with that conversation. That ‘little’ moment has made a huge impact on my life. Honestly, if I knew what grace was going to look like in my life up to today, I probably wouldn’t have embraced it then I’m not going to lie. Because God has asked me to give some HARD grace.
But I don’t regret it. I am so thankful I let it sink into my soul. Because grace has called me to do crazy things; things that would be impossible without Jesus having given me the grace first. Grace has given me the ability to walk in freedom instead of holding myself to the pain others have caused.
Like I said, I don’t know what your life looks like right now. I don’t know if grace is something you embrace fully or shy away from. But I encourage you to ask God what His grace has looked like in your life and go deep. That’s the source of your ‘grace spring’. And then take it further. Live it out. It’s one of the hardest things you’ll do, that much is for sure. And I can bet there will be at least one or two people to call you crazy. (But I love it when they say that to me because that’s how I know I’m doing it right. Hey, I’m called to be different.) I’m in no way perfect at it either. Trust me, sometimes God has to sit me back on the edge of that stage and ask me what grace is and what living it out looks like. But every time it’s worth it.
It’s always worth it to smell like Jesus.
Deep Diving 