In the Christian life, there are few joys that compare with walking through life with another believer/s in the attitude and determination of God’s grace. Jesus called this discipleship, and it can apply to one on one, or one to many relationships. It happens when the gracious authority of Jesus Christ is at the controlling center of the relationship.
While it is God’s grace that freely offers salvation, it is equally God’s grace which secures and assures of eternal life. However, it’s also the Lord’s grace which transforms our earthly relationships. Paul points to the church as being the place where His glorious grace… has blessed us in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6). The assembly of God’s people is the body of Christ, where the most beloved of all God’s creation, get to experience and manifest His glorious grace. And it is glorious because it places the very heart of God on display through the lives of transformed people.
It shouldn’t surprise us then, when instructed to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). Grace is not an end in itself. Grace is the means through which greater things are accomplished. This is true in all aspects of the gospel, from being chosen before the foundation of the world, to welcoming and accepting one another in the family of God. The apostle Peter is right, there should be ongoing development of our grace to others which is in proportion to our growing knowledge of Jesus Christ. Just as our knowledge of Christ should not be allowed to stagnate, neither should His grace working through us become stagnant.
You see, grace overcomes personal prejudice, it fails to see offensive diversity as barriers, and it looks to the soul of the recipient as being in need of the loving truth of Jesus Christ. Often, it’s the gracious manner of a believer that opens the heart’s door for the gospel to be listened to. Similarly, it is grace that steps out of individual comfort for the sake of standing with a fellow believer who is struggling with life. Grace takes off our tinted glasses which so often prevent us seeing anothers’ need.
It was grace which enabled Jesus to connect with people that others avoided. Think of the Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob, who said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans (John 4:9). Those the Jewish religious society prohibited contact with, Jesus graciously engaged with. There was Zacchaeus sitting up a tree in Luke 19:2, He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” So Zacchaeus hurried and came down and received Jesus joyfully (Luke 19:5-6). Meanwhile, Jesus’ antagonists grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner” (Luke 19:7).
Grace enables Christlike interaction with others without compromising truth or values. Grace is sufficient to strengthen the weak (2 Corinthians 12:9). Grace motivates believers to restore a stumbling child of God in a spirit of gentleness and to bear one another’s burdens without prejudice (Galatians 6:1-2). This wonderful quality inspires us to speak only such as is good for building up… that it may give grace to those who hear (Ephesians 4:29). It’s a joy to dispense grace, just as it’s a joy to receive it. May Jesus’ grace be seen in us today for His glory.
