Grace

Yesterday someone said to me that they deserve to be shown grace by other people because they show grace to people. When I heard this I was like, "that's not how grace works" Grace is undeserved - we never, ever deserve grace.

Let's get technical and define grace: Grace according to Christianity is the love and mercy given to us by God because God desires us to have it, not because of anything we have done to earn it. (I used Wikipedia to find my definition).

When I explain grace to someone, I say it's like we're standing in court before a judge and we've been sentenced to go to jail for killing someone/stealing a car etc and then all of a sudden someone jumps up and says I will go to jail for them and you can go free. We don't deserve it, we should go to jail but someone took our place. It's the same with God, he showed a HUGE amount of grace by sending Jesus to die for us so that we can have a relationship with him. He also sent Jesus so that we don't have to die and go to hell because of our sin, but actually have eternal life if we choose him. (John 3:16).

God sent Jesus to do this but Jesus chose to die for us so we can live. He chose to show us grace. People hated him when he was on earth, they wanted him dead but he chose to do what God wanted him to do - show us grace and die for us, Luke 22:42 says "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours". Jesus struggled with this - he was about to be crucified but he still chose to do what God wanted him to. God was calling him to die, save his people and that the relationship could be restored. This for me is the ultimate act of grace.

To sum up my point... God showed us grace by sending Jesus, Jesus chose to do what God wanted him to do by committing the greatest act of grace. Did he have to do it - no, but he still chose to do it because it's what God wanted. Did we deserve it no. I feel like we should be showing people grace in the same way. We should give them a second chance - forget what they did and give them a second chance for the sake of improving a relationship in what ever form with them. We're not perfect and just like Jesus showed us grace we need to do it. God never expected anything in return for the grace we showed - it's a no strings attached commitment that was made. - we need to do the same.

And... Just because we show people grace it doesn't mean we deserve to be shown grace back. We show grace because God showed us grace first.

xKx