The definition of Grace in a spiritual sense is this; unmerited favor that is not deserved. In other words, God has and is showing His Grace to you and to me even though we absolutely do not deserve one iota of it. God has shown His love to his creation even when we human's, His highest form of creation, turned our backs on Him and rejected His love. That is unmerited favor or favor undeserved, GRACE. What is really amazing about this grace is that there is absolutely nothing we can do to earn it. It is a free gift from God to us. To put it yet another way; it is God's LOVE in action. You see, the world literally fell apart after Adam and Eve rebelled against God by disobeying Him. That sin that they allowed into the world affected every human being that was born from there on. God in His infinite MERCY and LOVE made a way for mankind to be redeemed from that sin nature. God, because He loved us so much decided to send His only begotten Son to pay the price for our redemption, and that meant God's Son would have to die. He not only had to die but in order for us to have hope He had to be raised from the dead. This why we Christian's celebrate Christmas (birth) and Easter (death/resurrection) holidays. Read Romans 3:23 tellings us that we are ALL guilty of sin and deserve death, Romans 6:23a, but God's FREE GIFT to us is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, Romans 6:23b. This is undeserved GRACE. Ephesians 2:8 says it this way, for it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not from yourselves (can't take credit for it, not of your own doing, this does not come from you, you had nothing to do with it) it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast (brag).
My friends, if we are living not only under this grace but in this grace then it is in my opinion that much of the church is failing in this area and does not understand what this really means. The most important part of this to grasp is that God gave us His Grace freely, the only stipulation to receive this gift was to believe in His son Jesus Christ and that He came and died on the cross and rose again on the third day, FOR US. Once someone does this and allows Christ total control of their life then we must in return show this same grace to the world. This is where I believe many of us have failed, we do not show God's Grace to those who we do not agree with or we consider our enemies. I want to tell you a story I heard from a Pastor on television. His name is Kerry Shook. I believe this story really relates to how grace is extended to those that we may think just aren't lovable or even deserve such favor.
I know I won't get this story exactly as Pastor Shook told it but I believe it will be sufficient. The story takes place in Korea. By the way, this is a true story.
As we all know when there is a war and troops go to a country to help fight there are always war babies born. In Korea during the war this was a very serious problem. You see, when babies are born out of wedlock coming from another race they are then considered a mixed race baby, or as some would call them, half breeds. In Korea, this just isn't acceptable and most babies are abandoned or turned over to orphanage's. This was the case for one such baby girl fathered from a United States soldier. The father of course went back to the states and left the mother with the responsibility of either raising this baby or abandoning it. She chose to raise the baby and she did this for about four years. This woman struggled while raising this girl trying to support her and help her through the discrimination of being a mixed race child. There was a lot of hurt caused because of this. One day the mother meant a Korean man who took a liking to her. As the relationship progressed the man decided he would marry this woman and arranged with the mother's parents to be married. But there was a condition for that marriage. The man said he would marry the mother of the girl but the girl had to go, she was mixed and not wanted by this man or society. The woman had to choose between the man and the child. The mother had given this a lot of thought and new if she lost this man she would have to go on struggling and give up a chance to live a better life. The woman had made her decision and chose the man. The child had to go. The mother took the child to to the train depot and put her on the train to go to another city where her uncle would pick her up. Once the child arrived at the station she got off the train and waited for her uncle to pick her up, she waited and waited but no uncle. Now the child was alone, scared, no means of support, she was cold, hungry and desperate. This little girl was determined to live, she ate what she could find, stayed warm wherever she could. As time went by she became weak and sick. She had contracted worms from the bad food and living conditions. She was so bad that the worms would actually crawl out of her mouth when they were hungry.
Then one day a woman who worked with a place that took in babied had spotted her and took her to an orphanage where she could get some help. Here she had it a little better, she could stay warm, be fed. She did not get much if any medical help, but just the basic shelter. This little girl was still frightened, sick and did not receive any form of affection. She stayed at this shelter helping out by changing the diapers of the babies and giving them some affection. Then one day someone came to adopt a baby boy and as he picked up the babies and held them and observed them he noticed this little girl, now about seven years old out of the corner of his eye. The man approached the girl and got down to her level to look her in her eyes, then he put his hand on her face and stroked her hair, which by the way was filled with lice so much that it looked white. The girl didn't want the affection to stop, she had never felt this kind of kindness before. She was still scared, dirty, hair a mess, and still had worms. Then all of the sudden the girl reached up and yanked the man's hand down and spit twice in his face then ran off. You see, she was not used to being loved let alone to be touched with a warm friendly hand. What she was used to was being called "Toogee" which meant Garbage, Dust, Bastard, Alien Devil. This girl who was abandoned at 4, survived by stealing food, eating mice and locust, had to sleep in a fox hole with straw around her, abused and sexually used as a toy, was despised by all finally felt a touch of Grace that she had never known before. The little girl thought for sure that was the end of her chances for being adopted. The next day the man came back and to the little girls surprise he wanted to see her again. This time the man reached out and took her in his arms and said my wife and I have prayed about this and ask God to guide us, this is the girl we want to adopt. So the little girl who was abandoned now has a warm loving Father and Mother who loves her beyond measure.
It took Stephanie a long time to realize that she was not a servant for these well to do people. She couldn't understand why she did not have to work or do chores. All these people did was treat her kindly like she was their child. She could not understand why the people in the community did not chase her off and call her Toogee anymore. Then one day she was talking with one of her friends she had made at school and explained the odd behavior of these people. The friend said "Stephanie, do you know, you are their child now. They adopted you and you are their child. Stephanie turned and ran home and right up to her mother and said, "you are my Mother, you are my mother." With that the new mother broke out in tears and said yes, I am your mommy.
(If you would like to read the actual story, get Lee Strobel's book titled "The Case For Grace.")
This is a picture of Grace. God looks beyond our faults, all of our puss filled wounds and scars. He doesn't see what you are on the outside nor does He care where you have been, what He cares about is you, and what He can do for you. He extends His hand out in love and compassion to receive you into His arms so He can love you, protect you, and give you a new life and a new direction. This is undeserved Grace, love with no strings attached. Even though you and I do not deserve such love, God offers it through His Son Jesus Christ, who died for you to set you free from your bondage or slavery to sin and He rose from the dead so that you can have hope of joining him one day in His heavenly Kingdom. Grace is what God has given us and that should be more than sufficient for us all.
Just so the story of the little girl does not end with the adoption, that little girl now serves her God in the Pacific Northwest of the United States by helping other abandoned and unloved children. I know I did not get the whole story exactly accurate but the main part of the story is there. God loves all of His children, it is those who accept His love who will experience it. Remember this, if it wasn't for God's GRACE, there would be absolutely NO hope for mankind.
I speak to the church, the followers of Jesus Christ. If we do not extend God's Grace through our actions then what does that say about our faith in Christ? You see, when we start pointing an accusing finger at people and threaten those we don't agree with, or in many cases don't understand the person and we belittle them then we become the judge and jury. We have exceeded far beyond what God has called us to do. John 3:17 says; "for God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him." In a paraphrase way of saying the same scripture could be like this; "God didn't go to all the trouble of sending His Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again." (a paraphrase by Eugene Peterson, quoted in Philip Yancey's book "Vanishing Grace). If God did not send His Son to judge us, then why would we as follower's of Jesus Christ want to point fingers at people and tell them how bad they are? In reality we are to be about sharing or spreading God's grace that touched us to a lost and hurting world. We are not to be looking at the outside of the person, but we are to see what God see's in the person and that is a lost, abandoned by the world, hurting, hungry, and even dying world. God's Grace is offered to all mankind not just a few. John 3:16 says it plainly; "for God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Jesus said in John 12:47 "If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world." Also look at John 12:48, John 8:15-16, John 8:16.
Here's the thing, God wants to adopt everyone into His family, no matter how bad. He knows what sin has done to His creation. Yet, even though we reject Him and spit in His face time after time, He keeps coming back to adopt us, He will not give up. This adoption requires our consent and until we do that, He is going to keep extending His hand out to us because His Grace never runs out. God loves you and wants to adopt you into His family. This is GRACE, something you cannot pay for, something you cannot earn by working, or doing good deeds, or just by being good. This GRACE is a free gift from God to you.
Philip Yancey says "We can never sink so far that God's grace will not reach us. At the same time, grace does not leave us there. It raises us to new heights."If you have never received this free gift it is because you have not reached out to receive it. For those who have received it by accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you must now extend that love to those around you and allow God to offer through you His loving Grace.
It is hard for us humans to understand such love as what God offers us, but sometimes we just don't have to understand everything, we just need to accept it. If you are a believer in Christ then don't point fingers at those who have not yet experienced God's Grace, but reach out and love them with everything you have. Remember, "for it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the Gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do GOOD works, which God prepared in advance for us to do," Ephesians 2:8-10.
