Who would not want the grace of God? Unfortunately, we encounter people every day who want to run away instead of starting a relationship with God.
And often it is because we have presented them with a messed-up picture of our graceful God. Sorta like the one time my young niece gave me a piece of candy that was banana flavored.
Only to discover that it was actually lemon flavored. This made me distrustful of any yellow-colored candy from then on.
The same can happen with the unbelievers in the world we live in. We can extend a flavor of grace to them that looks nothing like the grace of God.
And once they have that bitter taste in their mouth of what our warped grace did to them they no longer want anything to do with the grace of God. So read on to discover the three shifts we can make to make sure people experience the true grace of God
sTART BELIEVING gRACE DOESN'T NEED A BABYSITTER
Let’s be honest. We are afraid of the grace of God sometimes. We are afraid that justice will not be served if too much grace is given to someone.
But we have to realize our place. Often we like to behave like a babysitter in charge of a small child when it comes to grace in our world.
- We like to limit the movement of grace like a babysitter limits a childs movements.
- We like to restrict who comes in contact with the grace of God just like a babysitter limits who the child sees.
- Just like a Babysitter correctly doesn't allow the child complete freedom we don't let grace have the room it needs to work.
A prime example of this is when the religious leaders brought the woman caught in adultery before Jesus. They wanted to put a spotlight on this woman’s sin.
They knew about grace but believed that a prescription of grace for her actions would just cause her to spiral deeper into sin. But in steps the Son of God prescribing the grace of God.
Jesus simply rebukes them by calling the one without sin to cast the first stone. And all He says to her is go and sin no more. Jesus knew that the grace of God needed no babysitter.
That this prescription of grace given to this woman would do its job in the long run. So how can we stop babysitting the grace of God and start seeing more changed lives?
The answer is we have to start giving grace without trying to govern grace. The results are up to God.
The grace of god is best served as is
Another pitfall to watch out for is trying to serve the grace of God with a side of legalism instead of as-is. Most of the time there are directions on the side of food containers that say things like best served warm etc.
Kind of like hot apple pie tastes better than day-old cold and stale apple pie. In the same respect, we have to give people God’s undefiled grace. And not some mixture of rules and grace we have mixed up. I understand why we do this.
It is a scary thing to give people the truth that they are set free. Before they actually deserve to be set free. Before they turn their life around. But the truth is the grace of God does work when applied right. Think of the disciples.
All of them received the grace of God. None of them were good. But after accepting the grace of God they were willing to die for the one who gave them that grace.
So let us take a step of faith and believe that God will change people without us tacking on all kinds of other requirements. Think about it. When we know we are loved by God it makes us love to serve our God.
One Grain of grace is enough
It is easy to accept grace when we get saved. But over time the weight of our sin can cause us to doubt.
So we have to trust just like the woman who touched just the tassels of Jesus’s robe that it is enough. After we are saved for many years and find ourselves struggling we ask ourselves this question. Can our sin outrun God’s grace?
We have to believe the simple truth that God’s grace will always be sufficient for our sin. We have to remember we are forgiven not because of what we have done but because of what He has done.
He has paid our tab and therefore we are set free.