The Benefits of Grace

As I look back over my posts, I sometimes think they are very negative. Seems as if I am always complaining about something. I always try to end on an up note, but today I want to start on an up note.

God’s ridiculously extravagant grace has many, many benefits. In fact, the benefits of grace are all the things that we seek to accomplish ourselves in vain, even as Christians. I thought I might run down a list of a few things that are substantially changed when we enter into a relationship with God that does not take our performance into account.  Here goes:

Guilt

Think for a moment about Adam and Eve, who used to walk through Eden with God, completely naked. Without shame. What was the first thing they did after they had sinned? Hid themselves because of guilt and shame.  Romans 8:1 states: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Once we accept the fullness of what Christ has done, we once again stand naked before God without shame.

Sin

When we come under God’s unending grace, we are freed from the law. That freedom from the law ends the dominance of sin in our lives. “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” (Romans 6:14 ESV) Not that sin isn’t still alive in our flesh, but it can no longer dominate us.

Evangelism

The message that sets us free is the gospel – the announcement of God’s grace. Once we understand the depth of that freedom we will never again look at evangelism in the same way. It will not be a ‘have to’, but a passion to see captives set free from their bondage to the law and sin. There is no need for methods because it is natural for us to want to share that which has brought us great joy.

Worship

This calls back to guilt. When we are under the guilt of the law, even the smallest bit, we can never worship God freely.  When we are become sons of God, we worship naturally in all that we do. Christ said that the true worshippers would worship in Spirit and truth. We too often worship under an obligation to law and so with falsehood.

Charity

Once any kind of slavish activity is removed from our lives, we no longer feel the need to place a cap on our charity. We can be hilariously charitable, even as God has been toward us.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, etc.

The fruit of the Spirit. I’ve heard people say that you should never pray for patience, and they are correct. Neither should we pray for the other fruit of the Spirit if we do not live under the full and free grace of God, because they will not come. Grace is the power the releases God’s work in our lives.

Understanding

Like every good thing in our lives, our knowledge of God is a gift. Once grace is embraced in our lives, our minds are open to receive the alien knowledge that is imputed along with alien righteousness. By alien I mean unnatural or supernatural. This knowledge comes through the Holy Spirit, the anointing of Christ, who works to renew our minds. The more we understand grace, the greater our capacity to understand grace will become. If we close ourselves off to grace, our understanding becomes dim. You may know when the Spirit is working when the scripture starts to ‘meld’ together in your mind in larger and larger pieces until it all becomes one glorious story of grace and redemption.

Relationships

Eventually, as God intends, all of this begins to work out in the relationships you have with those around you. “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Romans 13:10 ESV) As the free and extravagant love that we have gratefully received from God in our lives begins to work itself out, we will truly fulfill the law in our love for others. It can be a torturous process, because it will mean your having to accept others as God has accepted you – unconditionally.  It all begins with the understanding that God has, in Christ, accepted you without condition.

And the list goes on and on. There is not one part of life that is not improved by the acceptance of God’s overwhelming grace. Sometimes that means that you will have great patience in dealing with trials. Sometimes it means you will have great joy in the midst of heartache. It does not mean that God works everything out to your satisfaction, but that you become satisfied by God’s gift of grace to the point that you no longer look to circumstances or things or people for your satisfaction. You simply need to recognize that God’s abundant, liberating, completely unconditional, never-ending, undomesticated grace is way more than sufficient for you!

God Bless