Our household is eagerly anticipating looking after a little girl called Grace for a day and the code for all our plans for this day is ‘Grace day.’ ‘What are we going to do for Grace day?’ ‘What will we be eating on Grace day?’ ‘Where are we going on Grace day?’ As we plan and look forward to spending time with this bundle of joy and vitality, it occurred to me that every day of our lives could be termed ‘Grace day’. A different kind of grace, maybe, but grace nonetheless!
One of my very favourite Bible verses which reassures me constantly is James 4:6 TNIV which says ‘But he gives us more grace.’ Grace – that undeserved favour from God which enables sinners to be reconciled to a holy God – is essential to our Christian lives. Philip Yancey, in his book ‘What’s So Amazing About Grace?’ (which I heartily recommend) says ‘Grace is the most perplexing, powerful force in the universe, and, I believe, the only hope for our twisted, violent planet.’ He goes on to say, ‘God loves people because of who God is, not because of who we are.’ Again, I find that reassuring, because it means I can’t do anything to earn God’s love or favour but can rest secure in the ongoing fact of His love and favour because of His unchanging nature.
When every day becomes a ‘grace day’, we are less likely to feel abandoned, rejected, thwarted or powerless. Though our circumstances may be difficult and our moods unreliable, we have a God whose constancy becomes our anchor. Every day there is grace available, sufficient grace to meet every trial (2 Cor 12:9 TNIV), grace for every need.