What is Grace Pt. 2

In my last post, I talked about who God is and what sin is.  I did this, because we need to understand both of these things in even the most simple way before we can figure out what grace is.

By definition, grace is undeserved favor or a gift that is not warranted.  I think an excellent illustration of this is when my nephew, Michael was asking my sister for a piece of candy at my parent's house.  My sister, LeeAnn told Michael to ask Papa.  So my dad gave Michael two pieces of candy instead of one.  LeeAnn promptly asked why he got two pieces of candy; the response was simply, "because he's at Papa's house."

Michael did nothing to earn one or even two pieces of candy, but he got both.  It's because my dad loves Michael that he got this present.  Christ has something to say about this, "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" Matthew 7:11.

Jesus talks about about being poor in spirit, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:3, but what does mean?  In the context, being poor in spirit means that you know you have nothing to offer.  It means knowing that you are broken and have not one thing to barter with.  The kingdom of heaven is in reference to God's blessing more than it is to getting into heaven.

I think in light of Matthew 5:3, we can gather that God delights more in us loving Him than being pious and focusing on being people who just do good.  In the Lutheran church there are three means of grace, or ways of experiencing God's love and undeserved favor.  These are: Communion, Baptism, and Scriptures.  I absolutely love how God shows His love for us through these things.  I also think that there are "common" means of grace in the form of fellowship, prayer, and worship.  God shows us He loves us through all of these avenues.

God is able to do so much more with us when we admit to not being able to stand on our own.  Paul talks about how God's power is perfected in our weakness, 2 Corinthians 12:9.  This doesn't mean that God is perfected in sin mind you.  This means that when we are able to admit that we don't have it all together God can work in our lives much more powerfully.