GRACE is a common word used among followers of Christ. Pastor/teachers infuse their weekend talks with the word, grace. The lyrics of songs often include references to grace. If someone trips and falls we say to them, “Way to go, grace!” Before our meals we say “grace.” With all of this grace talk, you’d think we have a good grasp on what it is and what it does in our daily lives, but do we really?
The Greek word for, GRACE, is Charis (khar’ece). This is a rich word which is used to describe God’s involvement in our lives. The definition of grace in the Strong’s Concordance yields this description: “good will, loving-kindness, favour; of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues.”
It seems like I often hear grace being used in the context of not holding something against someone; as in, giving them a break or a free pass. In golf, my favorite hobby, we call this a mulligan. If you hit a poor shot, you simply say: “I’m going take a mulligan.” This means you can act like the previous shot didn’t even happen. Mulligans are okay among friends, but in an official golf competition they aren’t allowed. You have to play your ball as it lies. I generally don’t take mulligans if I am keeping score and not just practicing, because they don’t help me to improve as a golfer. Sometimes I need the pain and consequences of a poor shot to motivate me to improve.
I want to come back to Strong’s definition of grace because there was something about it which caught my attention. The definition describes what grace is, but also provides the purpose of grace in our lives. Repeating from the midway point in the above definition: “(Grace)…turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them…kindles them.” I think that’s a significant statement of the purpose of grace. Grace isn’t the activity of a permissive [soft] God, who chooses to ignore when we mess up. Grace isn’t God giving us a mulligan or a do-over, just so we can make the same mistakes over and over again. To limit grace to permissiveness is to totally misunderstand its purpose in our lives. God extends his grace to us (“grace upon grace”, John 1:16), to give us the strength to grow forward in him. By “grow forward” I am thinking of our daily development as disciples [followers] of Jesus.
In 1 Corinthians 15:10 Paul uses the word, GRACE, three times: (NIV” “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” By making statement, “his grace to me was not without effect”, Paul seems to be suggesting that it’s possible for people to experience the grace of God, but to remain unchanged by it. I think that’s exactly what happens when people look at grace as an excuse to “go on sinning”, a serious spiritual condition referred to in Hebrews 10:26. Notice how Paul connected the “grace of God” with the fact that he “worked harder” than others. This almost goes contrary to how we often think of grace, in that, there’s a perception grace means we don’t have to work hard. That attitude is an “(insult) to the Spirit of grace,” according to Hebrews 10:29. Grace is insulted when we don’t draw upon God’s “merciful kindness” (quoting Strong’s definition) to help us grow in Christ, and instead, treat mercy like a mulligan.
More on GRACE in my next blog…
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