NO STRINGS ATTACHED: God’s Grace Explained
What is God's Grace?
Have you ever heard the word “grace” and wondered what it really means? It’s a word we hear everywhere – in songs, in church, even in everyday phrases. But beyond a polite gesture or a prayer before a meal, what is this powerful concept that seems to hold so much weight? If you’ve ever felt a stirring in your heart or a desire to understand something more, you’re exactly where you need to be. Together, let’s explore the true meaning of grace—it just might be the most life-changing truth you’ll ever discover. Continue reading for God’s Grace Explained.
Understanding the Multiple Meanings of "Grace"
All my life, people have thrown around the word ‘grace’. Not Grace the name, but grace the concept. For a long time, I breezed over the word without giving it much thought. Growing up—and still to this day—my family and I say grace before meals as a way of thanking God for His many blessings, including our food. I’d also hear people use phrases like “amazing grace,” “saved by grace,” and “the grace of God.” Despite hearing them often, I never really let the meaning of those powerful words sink in.
The word “grace” carries a range of meanings. It can describe beauty. It’s also the name of a short prayer that people say before eating. In another context, it refers to politeness and thoughtful behavior. Sometimes, it means a delay or extra time before something is due—like a grace period. But most importantly, grace is the free and unmerited favor of God. That last definition is the focus of this blog. So what exactly does that mean?
Webster’s Dictionary defines this grace as “Unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification.” Let’s break it down:
Unmerited means undeserved. The person receiving something didn’t earn it.
Divine assistance refers to a gift from God—something excellent, powerful, and beyond us.
Given to humans means it’s handed freely to us, no strings attached.
Regeneration points to a rebirth or brand new life.
Sanctification is the process of being purified or set free from sin.
When we put it all together, we see that God gives grace to us as an incredible gift —freely given…we did nothing to deserve or earn it. This gift frees us from sin and offers us new life.
Why Would God Give Us Grace?
Wow! Grace sounds amazing! But wait, why would God give such an undeserving people such an amazing gift? The short answer is because He loves us that much! But there’s more to it.
The Bible is split into two sections: the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament discusses life from God’s creation of the earth through about 400 BC (400 years before Christ’s birth). The New Testament picks up just before the birth of Jesus and continues with the writings of Jesus’ Apostles and eyewitnesses to Jesus’ life until about 80 years after He ascended to Heaven. So, why am I telling you this?
The Old Testament is full of stories covering a span of about 1,500 years and focuses on what is referred to as the “Old Covenant.”
What's the Old Covenant?
Basically, it’s a whole bunch of laws and rules (613, to be specific) that God gave to the Israelites through Moses. These laws served as a sort of guidebook on how to live. But the covenant was conditional. It demanded perfect adherence to the laws to receive God’s blessings and maintain their favored status as His chosen people.
When the Israelites couldn’t live up to the standard, it led to a sense of personal inadequacy and insecurities in their relationship with God. It was a constant struggle for them to maintain perfect obedience. As humans, we all have tendencies toward greed, dishonesty, selfishness, and anger—it’s just in our nature. Having the self-discipline to overcome these tendencies daily is pretty much impossible for all of us, including the Israelites during this time. To receive forgiveness, the Israelites performed daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly sacrificial rituals using animals “without blemish,” or those that people considered perfect or flawless. The Israelites sacrificed these animals as a way to atone for their sins.
But no matter what they did, how hard they tried, or how many sacrifices they made, the Israelites continued to sin and disobey God’s commandments. But guess what? This was all part of God’s master plan! It turns out that the Old Covenant was just a pathway to get to the next step: the New Covenant!
The Transition to the New Covenant
You see, humans were (and still are) unable to perfectly keep God’s laws. We sin a lot! No man could perfectly fulfill the requirements of the old law until God sent us our Messiah, Jesus Christ, who would fulfill the law through His life and death on the cross. Jesus perfectly obeyed all of God’s laws under the Old Covenant. He never sinned, ever. And in death, Jesus brought an end to the Old Covenant because He fulfilled all the requirements of the Old Covenant laws. The whole purpose of the Old Covenant was to demonstrate our need for a savior. We can’t do it all on our own.
His sacrifice on the cross is the foundation of the New Covenant (which we all live under today). This is a new agreement between God and humanity, and it’s not based on anything you or I, or any human in the world, can or can’t do. It’s not a merit-based system; it’s based on faith in Jesus, and it’s based on God’s GRACE! There’s that word again: GRACE!
Through the grace of God, all those who are in Christ are forgiven for their sins. Yup, forgiven for ALL sins, forever. God will “remember our sins no more” (Hebrews 8:12). And in addition, God has given us eternal life! The only thing God asks for in return is to know you through a relationship based on faith in Jesus Christ.
Let’s go back to our definition: Grace is an amazing or excellent gift that is freely given by God to humans (through no merit of our own) to free us from sin and give us new life. What gift? It’s forgiveness, and it’s eternal life.
Living a Life of Grace
Now, don’t get me wrong: Grace isn’t an excuse to continue sinning or live in a way that displeases God. Not at all! Instead, God gave us grace to empower us to overcome sin, resist temptation, and live a life full of love, compassion, and service to others.
What am I getting at? It’s simple! Accept God’s grace and live a good life!
Grace is this amazing, undeserved gift that God has given us that we often take for granted every day of our lives! He’s given us love instead of condemnation. He’s given us hope instead of despair. He’s given us life instead of death! And guess what? No matter how many things you’ve done wrong in your life, or how far you’ve strayed from God, His grace is the reason we can always come home to Him! He’s waiting for us, and He’s always ready to run to you with open arms to give you the most amazing and welcoming bear hug you could ever imagine!
So What Do We Do with This Information?
Okay, so now we know about God’s grace. What do we do with this information? I guess that’s up to you. For me, I start by recognizing and acknowledging that God’s grace saves us, not because we earned it, but because God has freely gifted it to us all. Then:
Praise God: It can be a simple “thank you, God.”
Lead with love: This means forgiving those who we feel have wronged us. It means showing kindness and compassion to others, even when we feel they don’t deserve it.
Be humble: Recognize that we are completely dependent on God, and understand that God has given us everything we have in our lives through His grace.
Live with integrity: Be honest with others, be trustworthy, and be genuine and authentic in your relationships and interactions.
Trust and believe: Repeat to yourself every day: God’s got my back! He is guiding me through all of life’s ups and downs. In your faith, you’ll find rest and peace knowing that God loves and accepts you.
Pray: This doesn’t mean complicated language or well-articulated sentences. This is just an easy conversation with your Dad. Remember, He loves you and only wants to know you. He will always desire the best for you.
Connect with others: Talk about God to those who know Him, and introduce God to those who don’t know Him. In a world that can be pretty scary most of the time, we all need Jesus!
Grace is an amazing gift – one we often take for granted, but it’s the very foundation of our hope. If you’re looking to dive deeper into God’s Grace, I highly recommend God is Not Mad at You: He’s Madly in Love with You by Dr. Al Jennings – a valuable resource that offers valuable insight and amazing clarity about God’s immense love for you and His gift of grace that He offers to everyone.
For a way to carry this powerful message with you, or share it with others, check out our new ‘GRACE’ T-shirt here. It’s designed to be a conversation starter about this incredible truth.
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