A human being cannot be truly fulfilled or complete without the grace of God. Grace is unmerited, unearned favor. Grace is the love, mercy, forgiveness, and acceptance of God, which we do not deserve.
Sometimes we ask ourselves if God’s grace has passed us by. And, if it has, a few things must be true: either you’re not a Christian, you’ve fallen away or spurned God, or you’re unable to accept the grace God offers.
Grace is eternal
From the beginning, God has saved people by grace. The only person, in the history of the world, who was not saved by grace was Jesus Christ; all faithful people, from Adam to you and me, were forgiven. That doesn’t mean anyone deserved forgiveness, though. David, the man after God’s own heart, sinned frequently. He stumbled many times, but picked himself up and continued trying to live for the Lord. In Psalm 32:5, David says, “I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.”
Through the death of Jesus Christ, which was “a propitiation by his blood” (Romans 3:25), God is able to forgive. Propitiation means satisfaction. In the Old Testament, the Israelites made propitiatory sacrifices, so that God’s wrath over their sins would be satisfied. In the same way, Jesus satisfies God’s wrath for us. “Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant” (Hebrews 9:15). Jesus took the punishment meant for us; without his sacrifice, God would have been unjust in forgiving the sins of all people. The crucifixion and resurrection was for Noah and Abraham as much as it is for us. All the faithful will be saved by grace. None of them will be perfect, none of them will be sinless, but God’s grace covers them.
Grace is not earned
Grace can’t be measured by man-made laws. Our earthly legal systems are too variable, and trying to justify ourselves by them causes differences; what is permissible and legal in one country can be a crime in another. There is a standard of right and wrong that we can understand, but we don’t hold to it. Understanding morality is not the same as being moral. But even if we were perfectly moral beings, whether by our own laws or God’s laws, Romans 3:10 says, “None is righteous, no, not one”; and Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Mankind sins; that’s a condition of humanity. And since we are sinful, we can’t be saved by works. There is nothing we can do to earn salvation, but we need it. We need forgiveness, grace, and mercy that we don’t deserve. The person who doesn’t work to earn forgiveness but trusts in the sacrifice of Christ is who will be satisfied by the grace of God.
Grace is meant to be experienced
Experiencing God’s grace means being constantly aware of the cleansing blood of Christ. “...if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Walking in the light is the lifestyle of the person fully committed to God’s will—not a perfect person, but one who repents and receives forgiveness.
We need to have confidence in our forgiveness to really experience God’s grace. If we understand the grace of God, we understand that we are continually cleansed and that He does not condemn us. Experiencing grace is freedom from sin and death.
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