This week I am going to discuss grace; for it is the part of Christianity which brings all these visions of new beginnings together. It is what the whole story of creation has been about.

 

 

We have seen over the past nine weeks my delineation between Christians and non-Christians and an examination of the psychology of both. But an understanding of this does not mean very much if we do not understand the story properly; that is, if we do not understand that grace has been the answer all along. 

 

If ever anyone started to think that my extolling the virtues of grace signifies an endorsement of repetitive sin, then I wish to repudiate such a claim. That is to say, I do not think for one moment that because we rely on grace we should carry on sinning simply because we have a gracious and loving Heavenly Father who will forgive us at every dissolute juncture. We should not, as St Paul says, go on sinning so that grace may increase (Romans 6:1) - we should be humble in receiving grace; we should honour the grace of God by making every effort to be godly and grow in Christ. 

 

The New Testament is brimming with examples of Christ’s grace, and those who are sceptical about Christianity are missing out on something more wonderful than they could ever imagine - they are missing out on knowing God and becoming aware of His abundant grace. I believe with all my heart and soul that the grace God imparts to us - that is, the act of giving, from the Creator to His creation, represents the very best that we can imagine. He loved us so much that He died on the cross for us; thus our knowing Him involves merely the accepting of this truth; the power of grace states that there is nothing we can do to earn salvation - He loves us so much that He wants it to be a divine gift. 

 

Grace is more than just an action; it is a central part of living. God created us, not out of necessity, but so that He could love us and bless us. We are given gifts and blessings when we do not deserve to be given gifts and blessings, and we are forgiven when we do not deserve to be forgiven; thus grace, if we reach out and accept it, enables us to accept Christ on the cross, and enables us to be free. It is the truest fact that one of the two things of which the world needs more is grace - the other being love. John Donne said that no man is an island, but the realities are even bigger. Man, far from being an island is, in his created state, part of a huge continent of grace, he was not created to be cut off from the land at all. Therefore, if he lives his life cut off from the grace available, he will have no real way of expressing his true self - the self which was born to will the removal of its sinful parts by diligently pursuing righteousness and by imbibing the love and grace of its Creator. Grace must find expression either in the relationship between creature and Creator or between fellow creatures; otherwise it remains, to us, quite an abstract concept. 

 

Grace is the supreme act of kindness and benevolence from the Creator to the wretched - and whatever state you find yourself in, you are never in such a bad state that you are beyond the reach of divine grace, nor will it ever be unwelcome to you. And that is the principal difference between Heavenly things and earthly things; for even the most wonderful earthly things can come along at a time when the human soul is in such a state that the accepting of them would cause more immediate pain or anxiety. Not so with the divine, for there is no human state that would not benefit, profusely benefit, from some of God’s grace - after all, He is already working in each of us probably far more than we realise. I do not wish for you to think that we only need God’s grace in times of hardship, for in fact, we need it even when we are at our absolute best. 

 

We are fallen creatures, sullied by an over-abundance of pride. Pride stands in the way of grace; but we can, if we try hard to strip down our defence mechanisms, make ourselves available to receive God’s grace in the fullest way possible. It is available for us at all times, so long as we do not misuse it - for when we misuse it, we are stifling our personal growth. We can grow with Christ, not because He sees the very worst in us, but because He sees the true potential of a man with the Spirit inside of Him. Grace comes from above; it illuminates every part of us, and reflects the divine in our earthly character. There is never any point when we do not need it, for we are riddled with difficulties in life upon which Christ shines His light to brighten every situation. 

 

In life we spend much time demarcating the distinction between things which we can change and things we cannot. When we come to know Christ, we come to learn about real wisdom, and grace is provided for us so that we can start to change the things that can be changed and absorb the things that cannot - for they are divine things, part of the immutable wonder of God. The true arcane nature of grace is that it comes along just at the right moment; it is not ill-timed like a bad comment or a fall, it is a central part of Christ’s elixir. You cannot store it up like treasure, any more than you can drink enough water in one day to last you through the month - it has to come through on a daily basis moment by moment, passing through each situation and changing it in its stead. The grace that is inside you comes from God; that is, from the Christ that is within you. It works day by day for your betterment; it is like a polish on a dirty mirror, wiping the dust and stains until it eventually shines a perfectly clear image of holiness. The true glory of grace will eventuate in the perfect light reflected from the perfect mirror. 

 

Through Christ we have a guide who always protects us; thus we cannot be tempted beyond our capacities, for grace sees to it that we pass through no boundaries which are beyond the grace and protection of God. Life will, of course, bring difficult moments, moments when sound analysis and rational enquiry will not suffice - but is it here, in my view, where our trust in God is compounded, it occurs through the enduring strength of faith and thus grace. 

 

It is not always noticed that grace seems very absent in many areas of life. With this in mind I think it is much the responsibility of the Christian to help people realise the wonderful nature of grace. The Christian who has himself received grace in abundance is perfectly well equipped to spread the news of its glorious nature. The lack of grace in the world has contributed to man’s lack of belief in his fellow man. When he starts to lose faith in his fellow man, he loses a little bit of faith in himself, it is a continuum. A man who has no faith in himself or in others is often going to find it hard to have faith in God and hard to receive God’s grace. That is why it is important to have good relationships with other men and women, to reinforce the criteria by which grace is able to make us better people. When we are able to delight in receiving it is the time that we are able to be ourselves, for we were created so that God could bestow Heavenly blessings upon us. 

 

The initial faith involves believing in ourselves in such a way that we can seek out God with confidence, for when we believe in our faith to do so, we are believing in the faith that He has given us. Once we realise how valuable we are in His eyes we begin to realise how much He wants to bless us. God’s love and grace are expressions of the divine which we are able to experience in our lives through faith in Him. And if you ever want to know the true values of grace, try employing it in moments of extreme duress and tension, and you will see its power. It takes a brave person to be full of grace at all times; there are times when it is quite unwelcome to our emotions. 

 

But if we learn to be content with the work that God is doing in us, we shall be content with divine grace and thus content with the continual improvement that is occurring within us through Christ. Grace brings men and women together in Christ, so that they may stand together anywhere in the world, in full knowledge that they have God to thank for everything that they are. And even those who seem quite resistant to grace cannot diminish its power in their lives. However much they resist grace, they know how much a little bit of it can move them into something quite different from normality. We are so reliant on grace that in those times when a man outwardly expresses the boundlessness of God’s grace, it is difficult to tell which part is him and which part is God in him, for a man who is able to demonstrate the true powers of grace is the man who really is the light of the world. 

 

A man must go through some process of self-deprecation before he can start to open himself up to grace. That is, wise men know that the self, without some lucid realisations, is not in the right state to understand grace; it is best understood in times of humility. This humbling experience arrives when we are able to see God as the primacy of our very being; it is then that we see the true power of grace. And if we were ever under the misconception that grace comes because of our good works, we should be quite startled to realise that grace is, in fact, given so that we are equipped to do good works. Grace cements us together in a far more solid and lasting way than the cement of instruction or compulsion; grace makes us more gracious and love makes us more loving. 

 

Grace is, in one sense, an invitation from God to know Him and to know yourself. It is the biggest hint of new beginnings that we will ever see; it involves the love of Christ and the blood of Christ, both of which encourage us to love Him and to grow with Him through His dying for us. Grace does not merely give us the faith to persevere with these things; it gives us the ability to achieve an understanding of the divine and, in the process, a true understanding of the self. Grace picks us up at the exact point on the journey that we first required it to be made manifest and it moves us on to greater things - in fact, it leads us into Heaven. 

 

St Paul reaffirms in our minds that grace should not be a daunting prospect - after all, we are not saved by anything of ourselves. He asks rhetorically in the book of Galatians, ‘Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?’ He then goes on to ask, ‘Are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?’ The answer, of course, should be an unequivocal ‘No’, for to miss this point is to miss the whole quintessence of divine grace. If it were from ourselves it would no longer be a gift. All attempts to work our way to Heaven will be futile, it will lead to, at best, poor judgements, and at worst, oppressive religiosity. 

 

We have not been justified by our own deserts, but by faith in Christ Jesus who, on the cross, took the weight of our sin. Paul, in his letter to the Romans, says that we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. Through this we are able to ‘Rejoice in the hope of the glory of God’. (Romans 5:2). 

 

Kindness, generosity, and charity are all wonderful things - all of which I try very hard to make part of my character. But none of these things are as precious to me as love, or move me as much as grace; for in love and grace I can try my hardest to delight in the Lord, and work hard to be the person that He wants me to be. Grace knows no boundaries for those who are ready to accept it into their lives. It is through God that every one of us, undeserving as we are, can be blessed on earth and in Heaven through the love and grace of Christ.