50 shades of grace....

Did I get your attention?

Grace is a word I have heard often in my life.  How many times have I heard and even said, "There, but for the grace of God, go I."   One of my favorite songs is "Amazing Grace".  When we sit to eat a meal, we say "grace".  I love Ernest Hemingway's saying that "Courage is grace under pressure". (I didn't even know he knew me...)  I myself have never been spoken of as graceful, but I know many women in my life, including my mother and daughter, who are so very graceful!   A new favorite quote I found in my research on grace is from Victor Hugo, probably known best (by me at least) for his books, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and "Les Miserables".  Mr. Hugo wrote this about grace:  "When grace is joined with wrinkles, it is adorable.  There is an unspeakable dawn in happy old age".  My only response to that is there, with the grace of God, go I!

Merriam-Webster has 8 different definitions of grace (click here to check them all out!)  but the one I am most interested in is the first one listed, God-related for sure:

• a : unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification 
• b : a virtue coming from God 
• c : a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine grace

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Check out this acronym for grace!

Grace is a gift from God.  It is given to us for absolutely no reason or work or effort on our part.  It is God expressing his unconditional love for us despite all our flaws.  We all receive God's grace irregardless of how good or bad we are!  In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul was worried about his own weaknesses and the Lord told him in a vision (verse 9) that "my grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness."  Think about this for a minute.  I understand that in my time of weakness, I need to rely on the grace of God to give me the strength I need to make the right choices.

Even if we are already Christians, we need grace to live the Christian life.  Paul acknowledges this in 1 Corinthians 15:10 when he says "by the grace of God I am what I am and his grace toward me has not been in vain.  On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them - though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me."  It was God's goodness and grace working through him that made him such a great servant of the Lord.

So I highly recommend that we all embrace the grace of God.  We need it for our salvation and we need it to strengthen us for our daily walk with God!  For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly... Titus 2:11-12

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 1:7