David Bahn – Reflections

Ephesians 2:4-10

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 Forby grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

The question caught me completely off guard. She asked, “What is grace?” Amazing; I thought everyone knew what grace was. But then I tried to define it. The classic definition is “God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense.” And that is actually pretty good. Grace is the freely-given treasures of God, poured out because Jesus offered his life as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. It comes to us apart from our merit or because we deserve it.

God does not give grace because we’ve earned it. It doesn’t come to us because we’ve done good works or even because we’ve made up for the bad things we have done. Grace isn’t a matter of reward for having paid our dues or even because we have repented and asked God for it. Grace comes to us by God’s initiative. And it comes not only apart from our merit, but without regard to anything we could ever offer to cause God to give it.

Grace is the kind, good-willed gifts and love of God poured out on people who need it – even when they don’t know the need it. The Bible is very clear about this: “While we were still sinners Christ died for us” (cf. Romans 5:6-8). Grace is a gift we receive through faith, and by which we are saved.

We may cheapen grace if we take it for granted, or use it as an excuse to ignore God, or abandon his ways believing that by grace God will always take us back. But that’s not why we’ve been saved. We’ve been saved by grace so that we may walk in the good works that God is preparing for us to do each day. Does someone you know need a word of grace today? Speaking that word may be just the good work that God has prepared for you to do.