What makes Christianity different than any other belief system, whether it be a religion, a philosophical view, or today’s popular cultural belief system often described as secular humanism? In one word, grace! Grace is the word the Bible uses to describe the amazing gift God offers us through his son, Jesus Christ. Grace entails God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness, and offers us his power to change into new people and become more and more like Jesus! The difference is, grace is ALL GOD, and NOT anything we do.

At the time I write this, we have all just heard of the sad passing of perhaps the greatest boxer ever, Muhammad Ali. After he converted to the Muslim religion, one tribute mentioned that he saw all his acts of kindness and service to others as “points” or good works that will get him into the Muslim concept of heaven. This is certainly true of Muslim teaching as well as other religions in some form or another. Even many Christians mistakenly believe our “good works” will somehow impress God and get us into heaven. As good as you and I might think we are, the Bible clearly teaches that because of sin, NONE of us are “good enough”, and our sin separates us from God and a loving relationship with him. (See my last blog for the problem with sin.)

BUT, the good news is that God loves us so much that he came in the form of his son Jesus to die for our sins, taking our punishment instead of us.
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. – Romans 5:6-8 (NIV)
In other words, it is all God’s doing! Paul says in Ephesians 2:
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. -Ephesians 2:8-10 (NIV)

So,what’s so amazing about grace? It frees us from guilt and failure! God is saying to us, “Hey,I know you are a screw-up sometimes (or maybe most of the time) because of sin. I know you say & do things you don’t want to, and can’t seem to change even when you try your hardest. Stop trying! I love you, I forgive you, and if you accept this gift of grace through my Son Jesus, I will give you my Spirit to live inside you and give the power to become a whole new person, the one I created you to be, the one you desire to be deep down in your soul!” Find that hard to believe? Look again at Ephesians 2:10, which was included above as well : 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Notice the sequence: God saves us by grace, not by anything we can do for ourselves! THEN, he re-creates us into brand new people! We re his workmanship (masterpiece), created to do good things he has planned for us! He gives us his own power to change, to begin to think and act like Jesus did. Now, we do good deeds, not to get into heaven, but because we are new sons & daughters in his Kingdom forever! The good works are the affirming thoughts & actions God gives us to share with others, so that they can hear about God’s love and grace and have the opportunity to accept God’s amazing, life-changing offer as well!

No matter what your past, God’s grace allows you to let go of your past and begin, today, to live and think like Jesus. One of my favorite quotes is from Max Lucado, who said, “God loves you just as you are. But he loves you too much to let you stay that way. He wants you to become just like Jesus”. That’s grace! If you are a baby-boomer like me, it’s easy to live with regrets over past failures. We regret not being a better parent, or spouse, or not doing well at work, or messing up important relationships. Younger folks may regret not taking classes seriously in school, or taking the wrong major, or dating the wrong people, etc. Grace says “Let it go! Let God will forgive your past, and give you a fresh start in life under his control and power.”

We used to have a sign taped to our refrigerator that said “God’s part I cannot do; my part He will not do”. Grace is God’s part: he’s already done all the hard stuff for us on the cross, and offers us forgiveness & power to live a new life. Our part is to accept his offer of grace, and to put our complete trust in Jesus to transform our minds and hearts through his Holy Spirit, freeing us to finally live and do the good things we were created for. God’s done his part; have you done your part, and accepted his free gift of grace and forgiveness? I invite you to make that decision today. It will change your life forever!
(If you want to know how to pray to God to receive his gift of grace, go to my website page called “Becoming A Christian”).