Thought for Today

Psalm 45:2 You are the most handsome of men; grace is poured upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever.  

Jeremiah 31:2 Thus says the LORD: The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness; when Israel sought for rest,  

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.  

John 1:16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.  

“grace (Gr. charis, Lat. gratia, ‘favor,’ ‘kindness’) Unmerited favor. God’s grace is extended to sinful humanity in providing salvation and forgiveness through Jesus Christ that is not deserved, and withholding the judgment that is deserved.” (Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms, pg. 120)

Grace is a very common word in the Bible, mostly occurring in the New Testament. I only found 3 occurrences of that Greek word in the Old Testament. I did check on the verse above from Psalms  . . . that verse is not directed to me but rather to King David. The Christian understanding of grace has long been a focal point of our theology and our understanding of our relationship with our Creator God.

First, a disclaimer, I am a Christian minister. Most of my textbooks and resource books are Christian. My sermons and even my thoughts are guided by and influenced by my Christian faith. I do not take any stand or position on the question or issue of God’s grace toward or for non-Christians. That is God’s purview, God’s arena, not mine.

The Greek word we translate into English as grace is “χάρις, ιτος, ἡ grace; (1) as a quality that adds delight or pleasure graciousness, attractiveness, charm, (2) as a favorable attitude . . .  (b) as a religious technical term for God's attitude toward human beings kindness, grace, favor, helpfulness (Friberg, Analytical Greek Lexicon)

Secondly, I believe we tend to take grace for granted. It is such a fundamental bedrock belief for Christians that we rarely ask “Why?” Why does God offer us “Unmerited favor?” If the whole issue were simple, that dictionary I so often cite would not have 23 entries for various aspects of grace and various understandings of grace, e.g., “grace at meals Prayers of thanksgiving said before a meal, usually as a regular devotional practice.” (ibid, pg. 121)

The whole idea of grace is important, for Christians it is ubiquitous, it is often mentioned but not thought about often enough. We did talk a bit about it this past Sunday as we examined Romans 5:1-8, especially as regards “2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.” Sunday, and often in these Thoughts, I mentioned another verse from Paul’s writings, “Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—”

Please do not be too shocked when I say that the answer to the “Why?” of grace is a 4-letter word, love. Okay, it is 6 letters in the past tense. I believe the answer to “Why?” is found in John 3:16 although the word grace does not occur in that verse. "3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

One of the most important and significant words or ideas in all those verses and definitions concerning grace is that all of the action and effort is one-sided. The initiative is God’s alone. There is nothing we can do to merit grace other than to accept God’s freely given gift.

For Christians, our grace is through our faith in Jesus as the Christ. John tells us that God sent Jesus Christ incarnate into the world as a act of God’s love for “the world.” Certainly then and now, “the world” is not a place that has somehow merited such sacrificial love. Then and now there are “wars and rumors of wars.” Evil was and still is such a ubiquitous commodity that the Bible never even mentions the origin of evil. Read the story of Creation in Genesis and try to determine on which day evil was created.

But, God so loved . . . and still loves the world that God sent Jesus. God so loved and loves the world, that all we have to do is accept God’s freely given gift. Of course, if and when we do so, our lives are irrevocably changed forever.

Stay safe, accept God’s gift, trust God,

Pastor Ray