Grace Like Jesus

Grace (n.): the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings.

When I began taking notes for this blog, I read through about 15 definitions of grace. (If you’re anything like me, when you look up the definition of a word, you often don’t even understand the other words defining it. Life’s rough, y'all.)

After reading, and rereading, and then reading some more, I realized that I couldn’t really define grace. To me, it’s not just a word, it’s a feeling. An action. Grace is something you can give and receive freely.

Basically, you know it when you see it.

Two years ago I worked at a summer camp called Pine Cove. We each had to go by a camp name and religiously wear our name tag. No pun intended.

If you happened to lose your name tag, and someone else found it, you were basically given a fate worse than death. You had to sing “I’m a Little Tea Pot” on stage, with the impression that the kids chose. For example, you’d have to sing as a robot under water. Or a cat in space, etc.

However, in the odd chance that the kids were feeling merciful, when your time came to sing, they could stand up on their chairs in the dining hall and yell, “GRACE! GRACE!” More often than not, they were screaming, “JUSTICE!”

To be fair, they were 7-years-old.

What was more or less a joke at the time has actually stuck with me throughout the years.

How many times in life have I felt that it was my job to bring justice to what a person had done to me? How many times could I have called “grace” on a situation rather than demanding what I thought I deserved?

And how many times did I ask for grace from God when I was far from deserving?

Here’s the thing about people.

We’re all sinners. We all continuously sin. It’s just in our nature.

But here’s the thing about salvation.

We are more than forgiven, through Christ. Let’s review the definition of grace again. Grace is the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings.

Through our salvation, we are continuously given grace for our mishaps and wrongdoings.

Now, I didn’t come here to preach at you. As always, I bring to the table the things that I am most struggling with in my life.

I think I am excellent at temporary grace. I’m often quick to forgive, but man-oh-man, can I remember something someone said six years on a Tuesday when I was at work wearing a gray shirt. If you’ve wronged me in the past, good luck friend.

Yikes.

As time has passed, and I’ve taken my own wrong doings into account, I realized how unfair it is for me to expect grace from others when I can’t give a drop of grace myself.

In John 21, Jesus sits down for a meal with Peter after he denied Jesus three times.

15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” 16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?" He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” 17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.

To me, this paints such a beautiful picture of the grace of Jesus. Sent from heaven, as a sinless sacrifice, Jesus was the embodiment of God’s grace for us, but just as He was part God, He was equally part man.

As a human, to be denied three times would be heartbreaking, and in my book, almost unforgivable. But here in John, we see Jesus call Peter by name and ask him three times if he loves Him, once for each time He was denied.

Sometimes, it’s best to let some people and some situations go. You gain nothing from harboring pain and harsh thinking.

And sometimes, you need to know when to stand on your chair and yell, “GRACE!”

Who in your life needs to be shown the love and grace of Jesus today, rather than our human-natured justice?