The Grace of God

John 1:16-17 – “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

The Concept of Grace

Grace is a rather large concept and I really want to help you understand it. Simply put, grace is getting something good that we don’t deserve. Many people call it unmerited favor. The ultimate example of this is that when you accept Christ’s merciful sacrifice for our sins, God graciously grants us eternity in heaven with him when we die.

Some other examples of grace are when you have hurt a loved one and they give you a gift in return. Grace is someone going out of their way to help you and encourage you when you may not even know them. Grace is one of the most beautiful things we could ever experience in this world.

The greatest example I have ever received of grace in my life after becoming saved was from the women and men serving on my weekend with the Vio de Cristo movement in October of 2022. I was serenaded, served food, and escorted everywhere. I was led in worship, led to the cross and its forgiveness. I was led to understand the Lord and his grace on a new level. I was constantly prayed for.

Grace was explained in great depth so I could further understand it in a head-knowledge way. I was cleaned up after, my bed made for me and given gifts by women who had never met me. I was so fully loved on that I overflowed with love for God. All weekend I was reminded that this was all for me! It was all because God loved me so much and deeply desired to lavish me with love. I couldn’t stop crying.

Once you can grasp the concept of grace, it changes your relationship with God for the better. It is not something we can earn, but we can accept it when it’s offered, then pass it along.

Grace in the Bible

Genesis 6:8 “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” God regretted creating mankind and he was ready to wipe out everyone! But Noah was found faithful, and God chose to be gracious to him and his family. Noah’s ark saved them from the flood.

Genesis 50:20 “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.” This is Joseph talking to his brothers who had sold him into slavery out of anger and jealousy. At this point in Joseph’s life, he has survived 10-13 years in prison, false accusations, jobs of honor and now he is second in command and power only to Pharaoh himself! Joseph was put in this position by God to save the Egyptians and Israelite's from 7 years of famine. Because of how God took care of Joseph, God’s grace was extended to the very brothers who betrayed him. They certainly didn’t deserve to be forgiven, saved, provided food and a new home. That was true unmerited favor.

In Exodus 4:13 “But Moses said, ‘Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.” Moses had been called to free God’s people from the Egyptians, but he doubted his ability, he doubted God could use him. He tried to get out of it and gave reason after reason for why he was unfit for this task. And yet God persisted, God knew He could do this through Moses. He could have said fine, I’ll use someone more willing and faithful. Instead, God showed Moses grace, met him at his weakness and gave him the necessary support and encouragement to free the Israelite's!

The story of Saul’s conversion to Paul in Acts 9 is an example of mercy & grace combined in one dramatic story. Saul was actively on his way to persecute God’s people when he had an encounter with God. Out of no contrition or desire of his own, Saul was forgiven and chosen to carry God’s message to the Gentiles and Israelite's. Later in life, he even grew to the point of finding contentment no matter what was happening in his life (Phil 4:11-13). Saul experienced true grace.

Grace for You

Fortunately, no matter who you are, where you’ve been, or what you’ve done, God’s grace is waiting for you. It is true and it is real. God’s grace is interwoven with his mercy and his love. Because he loves you, he forgave you and he gives you good things.

I know that if you stop and think back on your life, you’ll be able to start seeing examples of grace. Times where you expected things to simply get worse, and they didn’t. Times someone forgave you for screwing up and didn’t punish you. Times where a mistake could have gone much worse, but it didn’t. Times you lived when you thought you should have died. Every morning you open your eyes and have the chance to live another day, start fresh and begin again.

God’s grace is for you friend, open your eyes and see it, breathe it in and live a little differently moving forward today knowing how deeply loved and cared for you are. The depth of God’s love can and will change you. Start to believe it day by day and step by step. It’s already waiting for you.

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Hey sweet lady, we want to take a quick minute to guide your next steps with the scripture and application portion. We believe that in order to truly grow closer to God, we need to spend time dwelling on what he’s trying to teach us and not rush through it. We encourage you to spend a full week dwelling on this devotional and all it has to offer you. That means you can save some of the scripture passages for another day or re-read them in the week. We also encourage you to take you time with the application portion. You can sit in each prompt until you feel God revealing his truths to you. Don’t rush, take time to truly get to know him better by sitting in what he’s trying to teach you this week. That's where your faith will grow.

Scripture for Further Study:

• Ephesians 2:8-9

• 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

• Hebrews 4:15-16

• Exodus 33:19

Application:

• Journal where you’ve seen evidence of God’s grace in your life. Thank him for it.

• What is a way you can show God’s grace to someone else this week and give them that sweet gift?