What comes to mind when you hear the word, “grace?”  A lovely name for a girl?  The repetitive prayer offered before meal time?  The extra time your landlord may give you to pay your rent?  The vibrant redhead on “Will and Grace”?

No matter what we associate with “grace”, the very fact of you or I being able to express our puny understanding of this reality is possible only because Divine Grace allows us that latitude.  Who are we anyway, to think we are able, in this life, to begin to even understand what this miracle of Grace is?  “What is man, that thou are mindful of him?”

The Apostle Paul, the Apostle to the Church during the Dispensation of Grace, and the final Apostle, repeatedly uses grace in his greetings and endings.  He references grace in his letters to saints and sinners alike.  I think Paul knew, based on his astute handling of human personality, that most read right over the inspired choice of the word, having limited comprehension or gratitude for the infinite height and depth and width of the word’s meaning.

The reality of God’s Grace is the reason the sun rises and sets, the reason the earth rotates, the reason the clouds rain on the just and the unjust alike, and the reason you and I are able to challenge each other to live our life in Christ more carefully today than yesterday and hopefully even more carefully tomorrow.  This is how best to honor Divine Grace.

When we stop and turn from the world’s idols long enough to recognize the Spirit within, our spirit is silent.  In fear and awe, waves of Divine Grace repeatedly wash over our utterly worthless souls.  Accurate, uncorrupted recognition and response to this Divine Grace isn’t really possible while bound in these corrupted bodies.  We read that eighteenth century Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards was so adept at painting mental pictures of Divine Grace that the supplicants he addressed sat poised on the edge of the pews, clinging with white knuckles, in fear that they might, as Reverend Edwards warned, fall right then and there into Hell, were it not for unfathomable Divine Grace.

I recently read an admonishment by the head of a fine Missions organization.  He claims some of us don’t hold the bar of Grace high enough when describing its application of unmerited favor on utterly worthless man.  It seems some of us are not definitive enough in letting others know that there’s a price to pay for Divine Grace.  We really ought to be more stringent about letting others know that repentance and standards are meant to accompany God granted Grace.  True, he says, we cannot earn our salvation and we certainly cannot be good enough to merit Divine Grace.  But we really ought to make sure we impress on those to whom we witness for Christ that Grace means to change us, and that change must be evident in our behavior.  This correction of lesser offers of ‘cheap grace’ as basis for saving faith is well noted.  But let us remember that the price paid for Divine Grace is immeasurable, and does not seek recompense in man.  The price paid exceeds the worth of all God has.  The Son’s atoning death sets the bar of Grace beyond what any are able to reach and model, no matter the level of demonstrated repentance.  We cannot fully comprehend Divine Grace if we are looking to see it mirrored in those who need it most.  Lady Lydia