God's Grace

2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

I decided that I would talk a little bit about God's grace on the blog today... kinda a strange way to start my post I realize, but its something that has been on my heart. I think sometimes that we can't really feel the complete atoning, all-encompassing nature of God's grace on account of our own selves. And by this I mean that we think that somehow we have earned a little piece of that grace. Yes, we realize it covers us... but to what extent?

Dictionary.com defines grace as: "1. favor or goodwill; 2. a manifestation of favor, especially by a superior; 3. mercy, clemency, pardon."

I think how I comprehend God's grace embodies all three somehow.

Funny how the deeper we fall into sin, the more it abounds. But do we always see that? I was reminded of this when talking to a friend today. Sin is such an ugly business that when we come to our senses in the middle of the pit of quick sand, we immediately despair. God could never use us anymore. We are ruined. We have not witness. There is not good left in us for Him to work through. Funny... Had we forgot? We never had any goodness to begin with! We were always ruined. God never had a piece of us that was worthy of being used by Him!

We have completely forgot that we are saved by grace. No worthiness exists. No shred of good makes us pass the bar on His usage. There is this passage in one of the gospels, (I think its in Luke (which is the best gospel btw... though I am biased)) that talks about God using one of the religious leaders that was plotting Jesus' death to prophesy about how God would use the death of one Man to sanctify an entire people for himself. It strikes me every time that I read it how God could use someone who obviously was rejecting Christ to actually give this sign of how He would ultimately come to save us all. If God could use the people plotting to kill His only Son, could He not use you and I? Or are we so different? Are our sins not just as bad? Do they not create the same chasm between us and God, no matter what they are?

This is why grace is such a powerful thing. Because it doesn't matter. Every last little least little thing gets caught up in His grace and swallowed whole!

Why does God allow the sin you ask? Well... my personal thought is this: because He couldn't use us when we thought we were worthy to be used by Him. He allows the sin because He knows we will learn... and somehow, someday come to love Him better. He needs us broken down to our basest before He can build us into what we ought to be. Sometimes that means exposing us for all our shame.

The most important thing to remember is the covering though. That our sins are all covered by His blood. That His grace remains sufficient despite whatever fallings, failings, or shortcomings we may have. There is never some sin too great that Christ can't handle it. In fact He doesn't need to handle it... He has already. The debt has already been paid. There is no condemnation. There is only mercy, clemency, and complete pardon in God's free gift of grace.