Random Thoughts On Grace

 The photos in today's post are brought to you courtesy of: My Vacation To New Hampshire.

The post about God's grace being sufficient caused me to wonder what does it mean to have God's grace in/on your life. If someone were a new Christian, they might not understand what that post was about.

So I took down some notes about grace that came to mind. For me, it means having the Presence of God with me.  It means that I have His guidance for my daily decisions. I can draw on His peace and His forgiveness and fill my life with those and I can then pass those on to others. I receive God's blessings on my life and those too flow over to bless other people. I cannot pass something on to someone else that I do not have myself.

I can tell you this, if you knew me years ago and then knew me now, you would see an incredible change in me! I have let go of so much anger and bitterness, anxiety and worry and the need to be in control. I have so much peace now - God's peace - and there were many times in the past when I thought I would Never know what peace really was!! His peace is so amazing to me! It really does pass all understanding (Philippians 4:7). I have peace now when my circumstances say that I shouldn't. I am so grateful to Him for that!!

I would say that the definition of Grace is Unmerited Favor. I do not deserve God's forgiveness but He gives it to me anyway. I certainly did nothing to earn God's favor but that too, He freely gives to me. (Ephesians 2:8-9)  These two things, His forgiveness and His favor, should cover everything that I do. Receiving His grace also gives me a well of strength that I can draw from in any situation.  I know that in times of waiting, I need to draw out of this well. James 1:4 says: Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. Waiting always has a purpose. I can also draw from this well when I am in need of giving forgiveness. Colossians 3:13 tells me to Forgive as the Lord forgave me. In my natural self, I am not patient and I do not forgive easily. These are two areas where I need His help. 

I also think that Grace means that I am not Condemned. Therefore, there is now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1 I was Completely Forgiven when I accepted Christ as my Savior. Jesus' sacrifice on the cross covers me for all time!! Yes, I still need to confess, but not because I need to alert God to the wrongs that I have done. He already knows what I have done, ans also what I will do in the future. Confession is to bring me into a closer, more intimate relationship with Him and so that I can let it go and not give the devil a foothold by which to try to convince me that I am condemned. God does not condemn me so I should not condemn myself. I also should not condemn others. When I allow other people to be forgiven as well, I am showing them God's Grace, through me. With His help, I can accomplish this.

This is by no means an exhaustive idea of grace. If you were to search the Bible for what it says about grace, I am sure you would get much more than this. (This entire post was actually written off the top of my head without doing any studying, so I apologize if it feels scatter-brained!) Hmm, could be a future blog post? So, what would you say that grace is? What does it look like in your life?