Revisiting Grace

​There is a thoughtful piece on grace circulating on Facebook that I have amplified and maximized with apologies to the unknown author. 
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Grace constitutes unearned or unmerited favor. She is seen throughout the Bible.  Grace means promotion, not based on qualifications. When she speaks, protocols are suspended. So, King Ahasuerus extends the scepter to his Queen Esther. With Grace at work, laws are set aside for a higher purpose. A hungry David understood this when he ate consecrated bread (1 Samuel 21:6). Jesus commended his insight because “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). A Samaritan woman with five different husbands was blessed by a thirsty grace-giving Savior. An adulteress experienced no stones from a sin-convicted crowd. When Grace acts, pedigrees and ethnic background are irrelevant, so Joseph, the Hebrew prisoner, became Egypt’s second most powerful leader. When Grace operates, educational qualifications are thrown out. Fishermen become disciples, to the dismay of the religious elite. Grace instills hope in the hopeless, joy in the forlorn, and peace in the agitated. She has your back while she holds your heart. She transforms lament into a dancing melody. She is the warmth that accompanies light, and she is God’s gift to you forever.

Meditation
Acts 20:32-- And now I commit you to God and to the message of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all who are sanctified.
 
When Paul said farewell to the Ephesian elders in Miletus near the ship he traveled, it was a sober message because he was convinced he would never see them again. After warning them to be on their guard against savage wolves who would come in to destroy their spiritual flock, he picked an interesting theme to encourage them—grace. 

Paul could have committed the Ephesians to God’s message of truth, but he chose the word grace instead. Why? In my experience, Christians can use truth as a hammer to bludgeon and judge. Truth mishandled is called legalism. When Christians operate solely behind the truth, there is a danger of making pronouncements instead of asking questions, condemning instead of seeking to understand, and striving to be right vice administering love. 
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God’s grace builds up the body. She is nobly expensive, which explains why Dietrich Bonhoeffer in The Cost of Discipleship warned that “Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church.” Grace does not condone willful sin. She extends kindness to the broken.  She is the source of our inheritance in heaven purchased by the high-priced blood of Christ sacrificed for our sins.  Grace is and ever will be a gemstone of love God created.
 
Inspiration
People of grace leave others better off than how they found them, even when they were getting nothing in return.—Dr. Henry Cloud in integrity
 
©2022 Daniel York  ARR.  Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to the inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)