There is a wonderful book I read many years ago by Philip Yancey called “What’s so Amazing About Grace?” and the author was once asked “Can you define grace?”
Philp Yancey replied “I don’t even try. Jesus talked a lot about grace, but mainly through stories. I remember once getting stuck in Los Angeles traffic and arriving 58 minutes late at the Hertz rental desk. I walked up in kind of a bad mood, put the keys down and said, “How much do I owe?” The woman says, “Nothing. You’re all clear.” I said I was late and she smiled, “Yes, but there’s a one-hour grace period.” So I asked, “Oh really, what is grace?” And she said, “I don’t know. [They must not cover that in Hertz training classes.] I guess what it means is that even though you’re supposed to pay, you don’t have to.” That’s a good start to a definition.
I know this may seem very basic theology to many, but during our recent road-trip to Scotland, my sister and I were showered with God’s grace in so many areas that it just had to be my theme for these devotionals.
The most amazing thing about grace is that it requires no action on our part other than to hold out our hands and receive it. We don’t need to try to earn it, we don’t need to work for it, we don’t need to have some kind of super-spiritual life-style. Grace is an attitude completely on God’s part, it comes entirely from Him and it is given unreservedly in abundance.
We live in a world where we are driven to do more, make more effort, give a little extra and keep going for longer. Do you ever wonder if you are doing enough? If your house is clean enough? If you’re managing to do enough at work? If your kids are learning and developing as they should? If we’re not careful these pressures can all get on top of us and chain us down. Thankfully, God doesn’t measure us by these standards – He tells us “My grace is all you need”. 2 Corinthians 12:9 [NLT]
If you have time listen and reflect:
Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) by Chris Tomlin [YouTube, 8 mins]
Dawn Milward
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