Underneath God’s Grace
Because God is infinite in scope, and we are not, we should spend more time thinking about the realities that are too big to grasp. Considering God's grace is an important example of the need to expand our thinking. God's undeserved kindness or love is at the heart of the gospel.
But if we think of God's kindness to us the way we might think about being kind to a neighbor, we've only taken the first step in a 100-mile walk. God's kindness to us is beyond comprehension. So, we should try to move our thinking to the next level, to a more biblical perspective.
One place to start thinking about God's undeserved love might be to try and imagine the love that takes place in the Trinity. This is the unbounded, never-ending reality of the relationship between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Can you imagine what that must be like? As difficult as it might be to think about this, it's important, because in John 15:9 we see Jesus making a stunning statement, “Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you.”
The unconstrained, unlimited, boundless love that flows from the Father to the Son is what took place on the cross. This is what we experience every day as He takes care of us.
John 1.16 is another amazing way to look at this. “Out of His fullness, we have all received grace in place of grace already given.” Another translation says we have received “grace upon grace.” This is a tough verse because it's trying to communicate something we might struggle to understand.
First, God's kindness towards us has absolutely nothing to do with our ability to do good, or evil for that matter. It has nothing to do with our ability to pay Him back for His kindness - we couldn't do that if we tried.
His kindness originates in Him, out of His fullness. And it's flowing to us like the water over Niagara Falls is unstoppable.
Now the truth is, it's impossible to get a handle on the magnitude of God's kindness unless we try to understand how much we need His kindness. Without this, we will likely get it all wrong and the gospel won't mean much to us.
I know it can be difficult to talk about our sin, but unless we think about how far away we are from God and what that means for us, we can hardly begin to understand God's love. Without this, we cannot come close to seeing God's goodness the way we should.
Our lives, day in and day out, are simply full of all the things that are incompatible with a perfectly holy God. I willfully sin every day. A lot. I'm guessing you do too. This is not a question of living a good life and hopefully skating by. That ship sailed a long time ago.
So this is the situation. I am deeply sinful and deserve nothing, but God loves me. And here's the problem. God can't simply embrace me and become dirty Himself, but He loves me. And God wouldn't be good if He simply ignored my sin. God sort of has a dilemma here, right? He can't embrace me, but He loves me.
So Jesus came and became my sin and on the cross He absorbed the cost of my guilt. He was judged for my wrong in my place. My sin was dealt with 2,000 years ago on the cross and because Jesus has infinite value, He can cover my sin and yours.
Jesus, You are the only one that can stand in the gap for Your children. You are the Good Shepherd who gives His life for the sheep. I'm sorry I don't see Your goodness toward me as I should. Thank You for loving me anyway. Please cause me to think bigger thoughts.
Let's end with two wonderful verses. This is Ephesians 2:4-5:
“Because of His great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved.”
Song: Call it Grace