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Amanda Idleman
Contributing Writer
Published August 08, 2024
Grace upon grace. It’s what I am learning I need, especially the older I get and the more responsibilities fill my plate. More and more I feel inadequate at living the way I hope to live. I feel like Paul when he said he can’t seem to get himself to do the things he wants to be doing (Romans 7:15-20).
It’s funny, because the Bible tells us over and over that we needGod! We are nothing without his power, his love, his grace, his plan for our lives, and his salvation. But it feels like I am constantly playing whack-a-mole with my pride. This pride tells me over and over that I can do all things by my own strength. A pride that compares to others and tells me I should be doing better than them. A pride that looks to my own strength rather than embraces my deep need for a Savior. I don’t really understand grace.
2 Corinthians 12:9 says, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
Grace gives us license to be real with the world around us. We can boast of our weakness because where I fall short God shows up. My tears are his chance to show his great love for me by covering my wrongs with his love. The Christian life depends on grace every day. It is by God’s loving Spirit that we are given the power to live in a way that is pleasing to God and that our failures don't have the final say in our lives.
Here are four ways the Bible teaches that we experience God’s grace daily:
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1. God’s Grace Is Sufficient to Cover Sin
His grace is always enough. If that is true, why am I spending most of my days counting up my failures rather than thanking him for his forgiveness? Because I’m holding onto my failures, believing they are too big for God to hold and wash clean.
Romans 6:14 reports, “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” My sin is covered by grace. Yet, I’m learning that in order for me to feel, hear, and live in that kind of freedom, I have to participate in a holy exchange. I lay down my right to be wrong and pick up something that no part of me feels I deserve – God’s amazing forgiveness.
What are you holding that God’s desires to cover with grace? Is it anger? Addiction? Depression? Pride? Infidelity? This sin has no power over you once you release it to Jesus. It’s time to let it go.
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2. Grace Gives Us Access to the King of Kings
Grace gives us bold access to God. Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” God is holy, mighty, perfect, and all powerful. Moses was not able to see God’s face because it would have killed him. God is too majestic and powerful for us to behold in our human form (Exodus 33:20).
What grace we have been given through Christ that we can now boldly draw near to God’s throne to receive what we need. We could never live holy enough to be worthy of God’s presence on our own. Through Christ who died on our behalf, we are able to behave as a son or daughter of the one true God. We can tug on our Father’s hand, asking him to help us solve our problem and asking him to provide what we need.
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3. Salvation Is a Gracious Gift to Us
Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” Salvation is something we could never earn. From the moment that humanity allowed sin to enter our world we became deserving of death. Yet, due to God’s great love for us the Father made a plan for our salvation. How thankful we should be that God did not allow us to remain hopeless, doomed to eternal separation from his love!
We can live knowing the best is yet to come because of God’s extravagant, gracious, and powerful love. Every person can share eternity in Heaven; all they have to do is believe in their heart and profess with their lips that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior. There is no sin too great for God’s grace to overcome. The only way we can miss out on the free gift of salvation is if we reject him by our own free will. Otherwise, God’s gracious invitation to join his family and live with him in Heaven forever is extended to everyone.
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4. By Grace God Shows Us How to Live Upright Lives
Titus 2:11-14 states, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
God’s grace trains us to live self-controlled and upright lives. Without God’s Spirit living in us, we cannot discern what is good for us. We need him to show us his ways and to teach us his path. We rely on his nudging, God’s word, the gracious wisdom offered by other believers, and the conviction of the Holy Spirit to follow his narrow way. We cannot live in a way that pleases God without his gracious power at work within us.
Every part of our Christian life is given to us as a free and gracious gift. We have no power on our own to save ourselves from sin, death, separation from God, failure, and immorality. Relying on God’s Spirit and accepting his plan for our salvation is something we have to do every day. Grace upon grace is what we must cling to each day. When we realize this truth we can let go of some of the pressure we put on ourselves to “get things right.” We can place that worry back onto Jesus and once again rely on his power to do what only he can do in our lives.
I am so grateful for the great generosity of God at work in my life and your live every day.
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