Amazing Grace

This is now the third day after the commencement of my chemotherapy, and I'm amazed at God's grace in my life. Probably even the word "amazed" is an understatement: I think "overwhelmed" would be more appropriate. For the last several days, whenever I've felt apprehension at the upcoming chemotherapy, the quiet assurance of the Lord has been there for me: "Trust me. I will be for you the resurrection and the life!" And now I've witnessed God's total faithfulness to his promise - not that I should be surprised at this, but to tell you the truth, I can't help but be amazed!

The song "Amazing Grace" has been a theme for the last couple of days, and so I'd like to share with you just what I believe is so amazing about this grace that God gives. I'm going to take you for a brief tour of the Bible in order to uncover just what God's grace is and why it is so far beyond our ability to grasp in even one sitting. At the end, we'll understand better why many of the New Testament writers started or ended their letters so frequently with an expression such as, "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ...be with you all" (2 Corinthians 13:14), and why the very last verse of the Bible reads, "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen" (Revelation 22:21).

First of all, let's take a look at the "amazing" aspect of God's grace. Here is a sample of how the Bible describes the grace of God (and notice the superlative adjectives used in connection with the word "grace'):

• Romans 5:15 - "But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!"

• Romans 5:17 - "For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ."

• Romans 5:20 - "The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more..."

• 2 Corinthians 9:8 - "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."

• 2 Corinthians 9:14 - "And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you."

• Ephesians 1:7-8 - "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding."

• Ephesians 2:6-7 - "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus."

• 1 Timothy 1:14 - "The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus."

• 2 Peter 1:2 - "Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord."

Do you notice all the words used to describe the grace of God? Here's a summary...

• Overflowing grace!


• Abundant provision of grace!


• Grace increased all the more!


• God is able to make all grace abound to you!


• The surpassing grace God has given you!


• The riches of God's grace that he lavished on us!


• The incomparable riches of his grace!


• The grace of our Lord was poured on me abundantly!


• Grace be yours in abundance!

Time and again, the Bible reveals the superlative nature of God's grace. For example, in Ephesians 3:8, Paul connects the grace of God with "the unsearchable riches of Christ." Later, the Lord would speak into Paul's own experience with the words: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). In fact, Paul's own personal growth in the Lord was a process of discovery of the very grace that he writes of so frequently in his letters, climaxing in the statement found in 1 Corinthians 15:10:

"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them - yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me."

For me, too, my journey is one of a deeper discovery of God's grace in my life, and what better place, as Paul himself discovered, than in times of weakness, for it is there that, according to The Amplified Bible, God's grace "and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in [your] weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9).

God is called "the God of all grace" (1 Peter 5:10), but I am called to "grow in [that] grace" (2 Peter 3:18). And in order to grow in this grace, made so abundantly available to me in Jesus, I need to "[understand] God's grace in all its truth" (Colossians 1:6).

One of the first things I need to understand is that the grace of God is something I "step into" and "stand in" by faith (remember how much the Lord has been impressing on me the imperative of faith this last week?). Romans 5:1-2 tells us:

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand..."

You may notice that there are two things this verse reveals about the nature of God's grace:

1. It is "through our Lord Jesus Christ" that God's grace has been made available to us (note John 1:14-17).

2. It is "through faith" that we have "gained access...into this grace in which we now stand" (note Ephesians 2:8-9).

The fact is that it is in Jesus Christ that God's grace is not just revealed but also delivered to me. I was reading 2 Timothy 1:9-10 today, and was amazed at what it revealed about grace:

"[God] has saved us and called us to a holy life - not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel."

Do you notice the two things revealed in this passage?

1. The grace of God was given in Jesus "before the beginning of time"

2. The grace of God has now been revealed "through the appearing of our Saviour, Christ Jesus"

This scripture shows once again the "ever-present God" in action - as well as the fact that Jesus being "the same yesterday, today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8 is not just a theological concept but has practical application in my life on a daily basis. For the grace of God has been there all along in Christ Jesus "before the beginning of time", and yet only now do I appropriate that grace "through the appearing of our Saviour, Christ Jesus" in my life today!

It might be good at this point to give a biblical definition of what the word "grace" actually means. In the Greek, it is the word charisma, which can actually be translated into English in two ways:

1. The undeserved favour of God toward me (Romans 3:23-24)

2. The enabling power of God in my life (Romans 6:14; Titus 2:11-12)

I suggest you download the Online Bible College lesson called "Grace" for a more in-depth study of this subject.

I need to understand both of these dimensions of God's grace in my life, so that, like Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:10, I can say:

"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them - yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me."

Most Christians understand the first dimension of grace's meaning. Simply put, grace is God not counting my sins against me, but pouring out his love and forgiveness in my life, even though I don't deserve it. This dimension of grace's meaning is very real for me at the moment. After all, I don't deserve healing. I don't deserve God eliminating the serious side-effects of chemotherapy that I'm undergoing right now. In fact, there is nothing within me that obligates God to act on my behalf at all. This is the very nature of grace - God acting on his own initiative without regard to whether I innately deserve his help or not.

But the second dimension of God's grace is also important. For grace doesn't just mean that God smiles at me in love. Grace means that God gets to work in my life. Grace is God doing what I cannot do myself.

For this reason, the Bible makes it clear that I need to have an active response to God's grace. Even though grace is God taking the initiative in my life, I need to act on that initiative through faith. This is why Paul, in 2 Corinthians 6:1, urges me "not to receive God's grace in vain." In other words, Paul is saying that it is possible to be a recipient of God's grace in vain - or, with that grace having no practical effect in my life. Again, in Galatians 2:21, Paul says, "I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" In Hebrews 12:15 too, the writer says, "See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many." And Paul's rebuke of the Galatian Christians was exactly that - they had "fallen away from grace" (Galatians 5:4) because they were trying to live for God through their own self-effort (i.e not relying on his grace).

On the positive side, the Bible constantly encourages me to actively make use of God's grace that has been made available to me. In Hebrews 13:9 I am instructed to be "strengthened by grace." And in 2 Timothy 2:1, Paul writes:

"You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus."

How am I to "be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus"? By exercising faith in the Lord Jesus! By actually, on a daily basis, "approach[ing] the throne of grace with confidence, so that [I] may receive mercy and find grace to help [me] in [my] time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).

The secret to a faith that attracts God's grace is, I believe, humility (in fact, faith by its very definition is humility in action - I'm saying to the Lord, "I can't do this myself, but I'm asking you to do it on my behalf!"). This is why James 4:6 tells us:

"But [God] gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble" (see also 1 Peter 5:5).

I, for one, don't want to be one that God opposes; I want to be in a daily position of humility, where I receive God's abundant, overflowing, surpassing grace into my life at the point of need.

My prayer is that you too will experience this superlative grace in your life today. And so my closing prayer is, for you, the same as that which Paul expressed in Ephesians 6:24:

"Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love."