Saved by grace

I wrote this in September 2011

I’ve learnt a lot about grace over the last 2 years. Grace is amazing – the song says it all:

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

However, it never ceases to amaze me how some people think a different rule applies to them than the rest of us. How many times have I heard Christians say that ‘God understands their situation’, as an excuse for not walking in His Word. This can be anything from smoking, to living in habitual sin. I have come to realise that we don’t know Jesus or His grace at all when we excuse lifestyles or idolatry with grace.

Grace isn’t an excuse to live as we wish. Living like that is actually displaying a hatred of God because John says that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. We will all fail in some way every now and again, and because of His grace we don’t need to be overcome, defeated or condemned. But when we live in a constant mind-set of doing whatever we want because of grace then we are missing the meaning of grace.

The old song says that I once was lost and blind, but now I am found and see. There is a change here; there’s a past tense and a present tense. Grace should free us from the shackles of the past and release us into our freedom propelling us towards a better future. Grace should empower us to live in His perfect will, walk in love and will impact those around us. Grace gives us freedom.

When we don’t deserve the love and blessings or favour that are lavished upon us – that’s grace. When we don’t have the strength or the ability to do something in the natural realm, that’s where grace comes in. His grace is sufficient for us. We were not deserving of His sacrifice, but He did it anyway. That’s grace. We are saved, we are found and now we see....it’s all by His grace. Let’s live in that freedom that he’s bestowed upon us because of His grace.

When we start to understand grace, we start to understand, and get to know Him. When we start to get to know Him, we will see that we are free to be who He has called us to be and we will want to please Him. The preaching of grace does not lead to licentiousness, because by His grace we have the freedom to live in His perfect will for us.