The Struggle of Grace

        What is grace? If you're a Christian, no doubt you've heard this word tossed about plenty of times. "It's all by the grace of God." "Just respond to His grace." Wait, what? By definition, grace is "The free and unmerited favour of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings." To put it succinctly, everything good in your life is by the grace of God. As humans, we don't truly deserve anything from an almighty, all-powerful God of the universe. It is through His grace that He sent His son to die for our sins and make us new. Jesus is grace manifested.

        In Jesus' sermon on the mount in Matthew chapter 5, He mentions that "Not an iota, not a dot has passed away" from the law. When I used to read this, I would become confused; thinking "Wait, what Jesus? I thought life wasn't just about upholding the law anymore because you died for us... right?" But now I realize the magnanimity of it. Jesus is stressing the amount his grace covers us. It IS true that none of the law has passed away, and no one can enter into the kingdom of God without upholding all of the law. But it is also true that when we believe in Jesus Christ, His death on the cross, His blood covers us. No longer are we dirty sinners flailing around attempting to handle living by the law on our own. We are perfect. We are holy. We are redeemed. When God looks at us, He sees the holiness of His son.
        "Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more." (Romans 5:20) "What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" (Romans 6:1-2) Many who don't understand the full extent of the results of grace tend to make the statement "Why does it matter what I do, if His grace has already forgiven me? I can do whatever I want and it's fine." I would say, if you've made that statement, you don't understand grace. Yes, grace forgives you. Yes, grace makes you holy. No, grace doesn't leave you to flounder in the squalor of your sins and addictions. Grace was given to make you new.
        This is where it gets a a little tricky. Oftentimes, you're either one extreme or the other "I can do whatever I want" or "I've got to work for my grace." Why do we react this way? One of the most insulting things we could do is reject the costly gift of God's grace and say "Don't worry about it God, I got this." For some of us, rules are easier to deal with than grace. We know how to handle rules, we've lived with them all our lives. But grace is something different, something extraordinary. Something we have a hard time comprehending.
        Sometimes we're just plain prideful. Thinking that, in and of ourselves, we can live out a life just good enough to get us where we want to go. Still, "not an iota not a dot has passed away" from the law. So can we really? Nope. So what can we do about our prideful tendencies in this area? Focus on Jesus and what He has done. Grace points us toward Jesus and what He has done, and that keeps us humble. We need to realize the preeminence and sufficiency of grace. If we are truly focused on God and His grace, our lives will look different. Our lives will look transformed; continually transformed. We will begin to realize the extent of his goodness. The extent of his grace.