God’s loving kindness, compassion and mercy are all wrapped up in His grace – not just not giving us what we do deserve (judgment and punishment) but pouring out blessings which we don’t deserve. Grace is one of those delightful words which take a lifetime to unpack. Grace turns all our understanding of equations upside down; the quid pro quo which rules the world is banished in favour of blessing and love.
Again, we can only embrace grace if we’ve received it. If we don’t understand the lavish love of God and that our whole standing with God is through His unmerited favour rather than from our good deeds or self-righteousness, we will struggle to show grace to others. But if we have received grace, we can dance gleefully and can afford to respond in the same currency.
Two of my favourite verses regarding grace are that God’s grace is sufficient for us: ‘it’s all you need’, as the Message version puts 2 Corinthians 12:9, and that ‘He gives us more grace.’ (James 4:6) When we may feel we’ve run out of grace, God is there to pour more in.
