What is Grace?

 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

            So I feel like over the last few weeks my mind, my heart, and my eyes have been opened up to God and Jesus in a way like never before. I have always heard about the grace of God. I have used the phrase “By the grace of God…” but over the last few weeks as I really start to desire that deeper connection, that meaningful relationship with God I have found myself wondering what exactly does that mean. What does it mean to have God’s grace? One of my favorite songs states similarly what is written in 2 Corinthians 12:9, the song (by Chris Tomlin) says “Your grace is enough for me”

I came across the verse above when looking for information about God answering prayers but it has stuck with me, and considering every time I hear the Chris Tomlin song with the same message it just fills my heart and makes me want to raise my hands in praise I wanted to find out exactly what grace means.

Now, considering I am a teacher I did what I told my 4^th graders to do if they came to me and asked me what a word meant, I looked it up the in the dictionary. According to an online dictionary grace means “favor or kindness.” OK, well that makes some sense but then I thought we can get that from pretty much anyone so why would God’s grace mean so much more? If someone else can give us what God is giving us then its not really that special, right? So there has to more to it. So for the last several days I have been thinking about it and thinking about it and tonight at church our pastor said something that caused me to have an Ah-Ha moment (don’t you just love those?? When God gives you an answer you’ve been seeking!) He was talking about Jesus telling the parable of the feast and how Jesus told the host that at his next feast he should invite those who do not get invited, those that could never return the favor, those that could never do for him what he would be doing for them by inviting them to this large feast, then he simply said “That’s grace” and I felt he was talking to me, like God had told him to tell me the answer to my question!

Grace isn’t just favor or kindness; it is favor or kindness that we could never begin to return! Grace was Jesus coming to earth and dying on the cross for our sins, grace is God’s love for us! When I go back and look at some key verses that include the word “grace” and replace the word with love it makes sense. In the verse above “My love (grace) is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” or in Ephesians 2: 8 For by love (grace) you have been saved through faith. Romans 5:8 states, what I believe is the perfect definition of grace – But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Grace is God’s love and the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross for us. He died so that we may live! So yes Lord your grace is enough for me and I too will boast all the more gladly because I have received the grace and love of God and this is a love more powerful than any other love, a love that I have no way of repaying, He laid down His life for me 2000 years before I was even conceived, yes Lord Your grace is enough for me!