John 1:14 14 The
Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the
glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and
truth.
What exactly is grace? And is it limited to Jesus' life and
ministry? You may be surprised to know that Jesus never used the word itself.
He just taught it and, equally important, He lived it. Furthermore, the Bible
never gives us a one-statement definition, though grace appears throughout its
pages . . . not only the word itself but numerous demonstrations of it.
Understanding what grace means requires our going back to an old Hebrew term
that meant "to bend, to stoop." By and by, it came to include the
idea of "condescending favor."
If you have traveled to London, you have perhaps seen
royalty. If so, you may have noticed sophistication, aloofness, distance. On
occasion, royalty in England will make the news because someone in the ranks of
nobility will stop, kneel down, and touch or bless a commoner. That is grace.
There is nothing in the commoner that deserves being noticed or touched or
blessed by the royal family. But because of grace in the heart of the queen,
there is the desire at that moment to pause, to stoop, to touch, even to bless.
The late pastor and Bible scholar Donald Barnhouse perhaps
said it best: "Love that goes upward is worship; love that goes outward is
affection; love that stoops is grace."
To show grace is to extend favor or kindness to one who
doesn't deserve it and can never earn it. Receiving God's acceptance by grace
always stands in sharp contrast to earning it on the basis of works. Every time
the thought of grace appears, there is the idea of its being undeserved. In no
way is the recipient getting what he or she deserves. Favor is being extended
simply out of the goodness of the heart of the giver.
Thought for today:
Can I accept grace or do I have to do/say something to claim that I made it
happen?
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