Grace Before Sin
Grace can be defined as unmerited favor. In the Bible, it is God’s mercy on mankind, bestowed despite mankind’s sinful nature. This divine gift was given to us before we even knew we needed it and was preordained from before the foundations of the world. Romans 5:8 specifically states that “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” This means that Christ’s death was preordained, and the gift of grace was a free gift to us before we even knew of our own sins.
Graces Impact On Our Lives
The history of mankind and the Bible opens up with a retelling of Adam and Eve’s Fall and subsequent undoing. Nonetheless, God’s grace allowed His Creation a second chance. What was meant to be a punishment was instead a blessing as mankind was granted forgiveness and acceptance through genuine repentance and faith. Therefore, grace has an impact on our lives even before we have sinned.
Grace saves us from the consequences of our sin before we even know our own transgressions. It has the power to break generational curses and to lift our family from the bondage of generational sins that have the potential to trap us in a permanent cycle of death and destruction. This gives us a freedom that is unlike anything any other power on earth can grant.
Renewed, Restored and Comfortable
The grace of God truly does change us as we’ll be renewed, restored, and comfortable in His presence. This is due to the fact that God’s nature is love and mercy. These two qualities go hand in hand and allow us to experience a far different reality than what the world has to offer.
Grace is not just a comforting presence, but a very real and active power that works through us every moment of our lives. It changes our thought patterns, as well as how we interact with others and how we think about our own sins. The cleansing and forgiving power of grace serves to free us from our shame, making us clean and innocent again.
Sanctification
Grace further works within us to sanctify us, transforming us from sinners to servants of God. It is not just the cleansing and protection from sin, but the daily transformation of our minds, hearts and actions to please God. This is a process which takes time and is often challenging and difficult, but one which leads to lasting salvation.
For those who seek Him and ask for His grace, God will continue to give it freely. He will never leave His people and shows his great mercy by forgiving our sins when we repent and ask for His grace.
The Law and Grace
The Bible shows us the importance of obeying the Law of God. This includes how the Law was meant to be used as a guideline for living a Godly life. The Ten Commandments serve as an example of this law. It is necessary to understand that the Law is a man-made system. It was created to remind us of our responsibility to do what is right and love our neighbor.
The ultimate fulfillment of the Law’s intent is through grace. God’s grace has enabled us to live a life of joy, peace, and abundance. Therefore, grace does not mean we are absolved from our responsibility to obey the Law, rather it allows us to live authentically in the Law’s presence.
Grace and the Atonement
The death of Christ symbolized a great exchange, an offering of Himself as the ultimate sacrifice for all of mankind who believe in Him. In 1 John 4:10, it is written that “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” This shows us that God’s love was so great that He sent His Son to die for all our sins, even the most grievous of them.
The grace of God is further magnified through the atonement of Christ. His shedding of blood and death on the cross signify how much He loved humanity and how far He was willing to go to forgive us of all our sins. This is an unstoppable and unspeakable grace that even death could not keep from us.
Grace and the Holy Spirit
The holy spirit is another proof-point for the truth of God’s grace. The Holy Spirit is a living person, who acts as our advocate and comforter once we accept the Grace of God. This Spirit helps us to live out God’s will and also serves to convict us of our sins.
The last point of evidence proving the unending power of God’s grace is through the Baptism of Jesus. When Jesus rose from the waters, a dove descended from Heaven, signifying the power of His grace. This showed the world that through His act of grace, the soul and heart of God’s creation was made whole and divine.
The Gift of Resurrection
The gift of resurrection is a sign of ultimate grace. We should take note that when Jesus Christ was put to death, He did so out of unconditional love and an unfailing bounty of grace. This act gave us the power of hope and a tryst of redemption from our sins.
The resurrection not only vindicates Jesus and wrongs done to Him, but it also sets our souls free. The power of resurrection brings healing and wholeness to our lives, allowing us to receive forgiveness and access to a continuous power of grace that can remove obstacles from our lives and usher us into a new day.
The Power in Praise and Worship
Lastly, the power of praise and worship also serves to bestow upon us the invaluable mercy of God. When we are intentional to pour out our affection and adoration to God, we are further widening the access of His grace and love. Praise serves to magnify the beauty in His power and the gift that He so earnestly desires us to accept – grace.
By expressing our love and devotion to God, His grace will always be made manifest in our lives. It serves as an unconditional bond that cannot be broken, allowing us to experience the true fruits of His labor and the true beauty of His character in our lives.
Mercy and Freedom Through Grace
In the Bible, grace carries with it the weight of being a mercy and freedom to all who humility accept it. It is an unmerited favor in its purest form and the ultimate way for us to experience salvation. All of us need grace, and luckily for us, God’s grace is constantly available and never ending. As believers, we must accept the gift of grace, turning from our own attempts at saving ourselves, and trust that we are ultimately held in the hands of our loving Father.
Resting In His Grace
When we face difficult trials or moments of temptation, we can always find solace in the embrace of grace. It is a constant presence, a beacon of light to guide us through the dark paths and show us the way of true repentance, humility, and obedience. It allows us to confidently know that our days are not yet done and that there is still hope and reason to believe.
In times of intense hardship and distress, having faith in the power of God’s grace can carry us through. His grace has been given to us out of love and mercy, to sustain us and bring us closer to Him in the darkness of this broken world.
Expectations of Grace
Our expectations for ourselves should never exceed God’s expectations for us, even in the time of our greatest failure and uncertainty. We must bravely face even the most daunting of obstacles without expectation, instead relying on the nearness of the grace of God to fill our spiritual void and quell our greatest fears.
The grace of God is a precious mercy, forever providing us a welcome refuge to take shelter in during our darkest days. It will never abandon us, no matter what turns our lives may take. His grace is an open invitation to come unto Him where we can receive a saving peace and assurance.
Our Lives Reflecting The Grace Of God
As Christ-followers, we must seek to live a life reflective of the grace we have receive. Titus 3:3-7 states that “God showed us his kindness and love when he saved us through the washing of the new birth and through the Holy Spirit that God has poured out on us fully”. This mercy was offered before we even knew that we needed it and was given for our ultimate benefit, so that we may become as He is.
Grace is essential to the life of a believer. Without it, we could never experience the saving power of God. Instead, it allows us access to all the promises God made when He gave us hope, love and peace. We must seek to truly understand and properly implement it into all aspects of our lives and through that knowledge, gain a greater appreciation for what His grace has done and will continue to do.
