Tuesday, 23 July 2013

Grace Portrayed

Grace.

"2. (in Christian beliefthe free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings."

Whenever someone asked me what 'grace' was, I would answer something along the lines of: "a gift that we don't deserve". That to me is probably the simplest definition that I can think of and simple's good for me. I mean, there is probably allot more to it but I'm sticking with that for now at least.

Growing up a Christian, I'd always heard and known about grace and I'd always been able to give examples like "when mum gives me dinner even though I've been naughty". I don't know, that's just a far-fetched example. But last night, I really saw grace painted on a beautiful canvas.

I've been in debt to my parents for some time. I owed them quite allot of money for the registration of my car. We registered it early in the year when I was meaning to get my license but for various reasons, I haven't got my license yet. But that's another story. Lately my debt and lack of funds to repay it has been weighing on my mind and though I'd talked to my parents about it, it had never crossed my mind to wipe the debt off.

Last night, Mum and Dad sat me down, and in more words then I'll put here, told me that because I hadn't got my license and they had been using my car in the interim (and I'm pretty sure allot of love mixed in there too), they had decided to wipe my debt clear except for a little owed from other things. I was flabbergasted. Now my parents aren't well off and I actually didn't want to take their offer but I didn't really have much choice, so I accepted and tried to blunder out some thanks. (And, praise God, I was able to clear all my debts today! I can't tell you how good that feels!)

But as I got thinking today, my experience with my parents is parallel to what Jesus did for us. Only, instead of just sacrificing a little bit of money, he gave his life. Now, since when did we, sinful, despicable, disgusting humans deserve the King of the universe's mercy let alone sacrifice? We didn't! Simple as that. God's grace is so amazing that it reaches from the heavens to the earth, from the highest to the lowest, from the creator to the creation, from the King to the undeserving. Now I know what Grace is.


"...for by grace ye are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:8-10


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