IS GRACE CHEAP?
“You think I’m teaching cheap grace? That’s too bad. I was trying to teach that grace is free!” That was the remark I heard once from someone teaching a conference on grace. But is that really true? Is grace really free? Well the answer depends.
Is the grace of God, His unconditional love and acceptance, free to those who believe in Jesus as their Saviour? Absolutely. One of the simplest and therefore most powerful verses in the Bible makes it clear that we are saved by grace through faith and not by works that none may boast (see Ephesians 2:8-9). But that does not mean that this grace came without a price. In fact, the cost of this grace was out of this world – literally. For the grace that we received for free came at a great expense – it cost the very life of our Lord Jesus when He gave His life for you and me on the cross (see Romans 5:8-9, 1 Peter 3:18).
So grace is free for us to receive, only because it was paid for by another. Which was what we just celebrated with Easter this past weekend. But grace is more than just forgiveness, unconditional love and acceptance. It is also the power to live a victorious life in this world today (see 1 Corinthians 15:10). So the mom at home needs ‘mommy grace’ to deal with their little ones (see Wiarda). The person facing cancer needs ‘cancer grace’ to face their illness. Or the person running a business needs ’employer grace’ to lead and serve their employees.
It is this grace that is always sufficient for whatever situation we find ourselves in (see 2 Corinthians 12:9-10).
And this grace/power is available to all Christians. But there is a cost for you and me if we hope to experience it. We need to surrender ourselves to the One who loves us. Jesus explained it this way, “Unless you give up your own methods and attempts at controlling life and pick up your cross and follow me you will miss out on experiencing my life.” (see Luke 14:26-27). So for me to experience the grace/power I need to love my wife and kids the way Jesus loves the church I need to surrender my rights, control and life over to Father that He might have His way in me. And when I do, I exchange my weakness for His strength, power and life. So the cost to experience grace is high for you and me, but the return is out of this world – literally! Thanks for reading friend.
In Christ who is our Life,
Ross