Experience Grace

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Ephesians 4:7

We hear about grace all the time in sermons, in books, in songs, and in the Word. Yet what is grace?? How many of us truly know what grace is? Do we appreciate it as we should or do we simply accept it as part of the package that comes with being a Christian? Have we truly experienced grace in its purest form?

The online dictionary (dictionary.com) defines grace as such:
The freely given, unmerited favor and love of God.
The influence or spirit of God operating in humans to regenerate or strengthen them.

So if we paraphrase the above the verses according to these definitions they would read something like this:

For by the unmerited favor and love of God you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the Holy Spirit the gift of God, not of your own actions, behavior or righteousness, lest anyone should take credit for it.

But to each one of us unmerited favor was given according to the measure of Christ’s influence operating in us.

Grace is God’s love and favor lavished upon humanity to the point that He gave His only Son to allow us to receive that grace. It is because God loved us and favored us that He provided a way for us to be reconciled to Him. It is because He loved us and favored us that He chose us, called us, set us apart to do a work for His glory, sanctified us, and called us sons and daughters of the Most High God. It is because He loved us and favored us that His Holy Spirit abides in us and empowers us to continue to press forward in that which He has called us. It is because He loved and favored us that His Son died on a cross and rose again on the third day to become our Mediator, our Lord, our Savior, our Defense Attorney, our Hope, our Prince of Peace, our
Redeemer. Praise the Lord!!

It is by grace that we are saved through faith and not of ourselves. We could not save ourselves from the imminent end that would come to our lives and the eternal suffering that we would have to suffer had not Christ paid the price for us. It was and is the love of God that saved us and continues to save. It was divine favor that appointed a day in our lives in which we would meet our Savior and receive His free gift of salvation. It is because God remembered that we were perfect in our creation but sin made us imperfect therefore He made a way for us to be perfect again when we are with Him. One day, when we go home to our Father, we will be perfect. Until that day we are imperfect human beings striving towards the day that we will be made perfect again as God intended. We cannot take the credit for anything we have done or accomplished in this life because we did not accomplish anything in ourselves but the favor of God is what allows us to do anything, without Him we can do nothing.

But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. We have been saved by grace but now we must walk in grace and live in grace as we grow in and mature in the Lord. We each have been given a gift according to the abundance of Christ. I read several versions of this verse in order to better grasp the meaning of the latter part of the verse – the measure of Christ’s gift. One version, called the Easy-to-read version (studylight.org parallel bible) reads: “Christ gave each one of us a special gift. Each person received what Christ wanted to give that person”. This verse deals specifically with the gift you’ve been given by grace according to what the Lord wanted to give you. This gift that enables you to stand out in a certain area was given to you because God loves you and showed you favor. For this reason we cannot boast about our capabilities, gifts or anything else God does through us because it is by grace that we are able to do them. It is because Christ gave us a gift that we are able to operate in a certain way, but all the credit belongs to Him.

To truly experience grace you have to experience Christ. You have to see yourself in your truest form in the eyes of God – human, fallible, sinful, desperately needing Him. Before we come to Jesus, we are a mess that has no way of undoing itself by our own strength, understanding, or power. The mess that we are only Jesus can fix. When we see ourselves in that light, small, insignificant, people capable of making a mess of our lives quite easily, we see that God’s love and unmerited favor has sustained us. We see that without Jesus our lives have no value, purpose, or direction. We experience the need for a savior, but not a human savior because though someone may be able to something better than you, they are still human, capable of making their own mess rendering themselves powerless to save anyone.

The only One with the power to save is Jesus and when you come to the conclusion where you surrender your mess to Him and let Him sort through it to bring the real you out of it, then you have experienced Christ and you have experienced grace. God bless you.