Picture of Grace

Romans 8:³¹ “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (NIV).

Your picture and understanding of God determines the quality of your life. When it comes to grace, people tend to be on one extreme or the other. One extreme projects God as the big man up there with a big stick waiting for you to make a mistake so that He can whack your head. One extreme says God is graceless. People in this extreme struggle when they come across scriptures like Romans 8:31. I am here to say to you that God is for us. God is for you. Romans 8:31 does not say God might be for us, or God has been, or God was for us, or God could be for us. Romans 8:31 says God is for us. In other words, right now God is for you, yes you.

I like the way Max Lucado puts it. Max Lucado says, “God is for you. Had He a calendar, your birthday would be circled. If He drove a car, your name would be on His bumper. If there is a tree in heaven, He’s carved your name in the bark.” And beyond that God says in Isaiah 49:¹⁶ “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.” (NIV). God has a tattoo of you. Does God have tattoos? What does engrave mean? God has tattooed you on the palms of His hands. Beautiful! Isaiah 30:¹⁸ “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion…” (NIV, emphasis added). God raises to show you compassion. Do you really believe this? The truth is that when you grasp and accept this your life will totally change.

God longs to be gracious to me and to you. You do not have to try to get God to love you. He already does. You need to come to terms with it. The other extreme is people who say, ‘if God were to offer anybody grace on earth, it has to be me’. People who think like this are full of themselves. They think they qualify to be recipients of God’s grace, and it is not because of the finished work of Christ. It is okay to feel special based on the finished work of Christ. But I am talking about people who say, ‘I am better than that person. I always come earlier, I am more faithful, and I pray longer than that person. I do this and that better. And based on that they subconsciously believe they should be preferred. It is a big problem.

When we understand how big, majestic, holy, and perfect God is and how little and sinful we are, we will see how desperately we need grace. But when we are full of ourselves and think we are doing God a favour by whatever we think we do, then we will miss His grace. Yet the good news is, despite how dark my soul can be, and despite how big and majestic God is, guess what? God still chooses to love me. That, my friend, is grace. Even though God does not need me, He chooses to love me. That is grace.

Prayer: Father, I am grateful for Your lavish grace in my life, in Jesus Name. Amen!