Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I know I talked a good bit about grace last time, but since it's Easter, I just want to witness to you a bit more about what grace really is.
First of all, I don't think it's correct to say grace is the same thing as love. In English, we can use the same word "love" for how I feel about pizza, my history class, my dogs, and my best friend, how married people feel about each other, and how God feels about all of us.
Now, while my feelings about pizza might be pretty strong, it would be silly to even try to compare that emotion to how God loves us.
Grace is so far beyond our comprehension. It's so far beyond what anyone can describe. So please know that this description is in no way complete; it's just a few thoughts God has planted in my heart and moved me to share with you:
~Grace is more than just knowing God loves you. Grace is knowing that God loves you so incredibly much that if nothing else in the world existed, He would have come and died just for you, because you mean that much to Him.
~Grace isn't the fact that He died for you. It's the chills you get down your back when you realize that you should have been the one hanging on that cross, suffering, bleeding, dying for your sins.
~Grace isn't the crown of thorns He wore on His head. It's the fact that He allowed Himself to be wounded for your transgressions, pierced for your iniquities, beaten so you could be healed, and crowned with thorns, so that someday, you can wear an angel's golden crown instead.
~Grace isn't how much "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whomsoever shall believe in Him shall not perish but have life everlasting" (John 3:16). It's how much God loves you- not just the world in general; I'm talking about individually, specifically, personally you- that He gave His Son for you, that you can have eternal life.
~Grace isn't love for you that reaches all the way from east to west, from north to south, from above the stars to below the bottom of the ocean. It's His love for you that reached all the way from a throne in Heaven to a cross on Mount Calvary.
There's a song by Mandisa that describes it a bit better than I can- although, like everything else on earth, it's nowhere near the actual magnitude of God's love- and I'm going to give you a video clip and the lyrics. Please, even if you've never liked a single song I've posted on here, humor me and listen to this one. It's one of the most powerful witnesses of God's love that you'll ever hear.
I stand accused, there's a list a mile long
Of all my sins, of everything that I've done wrong
I'm so ashamed, there's nowhere left for me to hide
This is the day
I must answer for my life
My fate is in the judge's hands
But then He turns to me and says:
"I know you, I love you
I gave My life to save you
Love paid the price for mercy
My verdict: Not Guilty"
How can it be? I can't begin to comprehend
What kind of grace, would take the place for all my sins
I stand in awe, now that I have been set free
And the tears well up as I look at that cross
Cause it should have been me
My fate was in the nail-scarred hands
He stretched them out for me and said:
"I know you, I love you
I gave My life to save you
Love paid the price for mercy
My verdict: Not Guilty"
I'm fallin' on my knees to thank You
With everything I am I praise You
So grateful for the words I heard You say:
"I know you, I love you
I gave My life to save you
Love paid the price for mercy
My verdict: Not Guilty"
Brothers and sisters, there's no two ways about it: you're guilty. We all are. Whether you're just a regular person or a serial killer, we're all guilty in His eyes. But, because He loved you enough to die for you- to take the place of the death we all deserve to die- He's going to look at you and say "Not Guilty" on the day you stand before Him and answer for all of your sins.
That, my beloved in the faith, is what grace is.
Happy Easter.
~BYR
