What is grace? This is something that has been on my mind a lot lately. Grace. It’s a beautiful thing. The other day my roommate, Derek, put on his FaceBook status that he was in love with Grace, which of course caused quite a stir as people assumed that Grace was some girl that he was intent on marrying. Derek was actually referring to GRACE, the Houghton library’s online catalog, which he’d been using quite a lot and was growing quite fond of. But at the moment I’m not talking about that GRACE or a girl (so much), I’m talking about grace. I couldn’t find any definitions I liked, so I’m making my own, and feel free to suggest anything that should be added to this definition. Grace is the giving of love, acceptance, and forgiveness to one who doesn’t deserve it. Grace is what God shows us. We have all sinned, and yet he still loves us, accepts us, and forgives us. Why would he do that? Why would God show us grace? Doesn’t that just blow your mind? But God is perfect, and God is love. So maybe that could explain why he shows us his wonderful grace, but humans? Us insignificant, selfish, sinful people, we are also capable of showing grace. And it’s simply astounding. God loves us and shows us his grace, and in it shows his power to love, accept, and forgive. But lately I’ve just been struck by how grace is shown even to me. God knows my sin. God knows my struggles. God knows what a pathetic and worthless human being I really am. I have rebelled against the ruler and creator of the universe time and time again, and still he shows me grace. Beautiful grace. What love is this that can show grace to a sinner like me? What love is this that could love, accept, and forgive me? A love that is divine. The love of God. And that fact that we humans have the ability to show this divine love is amazing. For one human to turn to another and love them, accept them, and forgive them when they’ve done nothing to deserve it, and much to not deserve it is a wondrous thing. I thank God for grace. I thank God for his awe inspiring grace, and I think him for creating us with grace built in us. I thank him for giving us the ability to show grace to one another. And I thank God for all the grace that has been shown to me.
I was lying in bed, about to go to sleep when I started thinking about grace, and I knew I needed to write about it before I forgot. But now I must sleep, good night!
1 comment:
But if God didn't show humanity grace, wouldn't he be pretty bored? Think about it. God has existed forever, knows everything that has happened and everything that can happen, and can do anything. So when you're a being like that, what is there left to do, really? The only thing left to do is create something that is inherently unpredictable - something with free will. Without humanity, God wouldn't have much of a purpose, and would probably be pretty bored, if you think about it. And imperfect beings with free will are bound to make mistakes sometimes - that's the nature of free will. So it's only reasonable for God to give us grace, since if we were always perfect, what would be the point of life?
That probably goes against all kinds of religious teachings, but that's just what I think.
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