When it feels like grace has gone on a vacation...

Grace.

As born again believers, it's a word we hear so often that I fear it doesn't impact our souls as it ought to. Pastor John MacArthur has an article in which he shares some truths about grace...what it is, and what it isn't. It's a great starting point...keep reading!:

"Many professing Christians today utterly ignore the biblical truth that grace "instruct[s] us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age" (Titus 2:12). Instead, they live as if grace were a supernatural "Get Out of Jail FREE" ticket-a no-strings-attached, open-ended package of amnesty, beneficence, indulgence, forbearance, charity, leniency, immunity, approval, tolerance, and self-awarded privilege divorced from any moral demands.

But here's what I propose — let's start by laying down a biblical definition of grace with this simple question: What is grace?

Grace is a terribly misunderstood word. Defining it succinctly is notoriously difficult. Some of the most detailed theology textbooks do not offer any concise definition of the term. Someone has proposed an acronym: GRACE is God's Riches At Christ's Expense. That's not a bad way to characterize grace, but it is not a sufficient theological definition.

One of the best-known definitions of grace is only three words: God's unmerited favor. A. W. Tozer expanded on that: "Grace is the good pleasure of God that inclines him to bestow benefits on the undeserving." Berkhof is more to the point: grace is "the unmerited operation of God in the heart of man, effected through the agency of the Holy Spirit."

Grace is not merely unmerited favor; it is favor bestowed on sinners who deserve wrath. Showing kindness to a stranger is "unmerited favor"; doing good to one's enemies is more the spirit of grace (Luke 6:27-36).

Grace is not a dormant or abstract quality, but a dynamic, active, working principle: "The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation…and instructing us" (Titus 2:11-12). It is not some kind of ethereal blessing that lies idle until we appropriate it. Grace is God's sovereign initiative to sinners (Ephesians 1:5-6).

Grace is not a one-time event in the Christian experience. We stand in grace (Romans 5:2). The entire Christian life is driven and empowered by grace: "It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods" (Hebrews 13:9). Peter said we should "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18).

Thus we could properly define grace as the free and benevolent influence of a holy God operating sovereignly in the lives of undeserving sinners."

Did you read all that? I mean...really read it? Go back, read it again! :) God's grace wasn't just appropriated when we were saved...we live by that grace....we are strengthened by grace. 

So, why do I sometimes feel that my life is not full of grace, as though grace has gone on a vacation and left me behind? Why do I often feel dry? Why are there times when I feel like there should be more but nothing seems within reach? 

Because I forget. Plain and simple.  I am not steeping myself in the truths of God's Word so I am unable to preach God's Word to my own heart and let it permeate my thoughts, actions, and focus (think tea here ladies! ) When this happens, my gaze never goes UP, it looks all AROUND me. And when I look all around me I start seeing mess after mess...inside my own heart and in the lives of those around me. At this point, because my eyes are not fixed on Jesus, the ONLY Author and Perfecter of ANYONE'S faith, I start trying to control situations and people. Of course, if you have ever tried that, you have learned (and, unfortunately, I seem to be a very SLOW learner...so I keep having to learn it over again!) that this sort of control only leads to hopelessness. Hopelessness breeds discontentment and, once we are there, we can't find grace anywhere.

Feeling discouraged? DON'T! As the saying goes, "the beauty for ashes" is that the reason I can't find grace anywhere is because of my sin, my warped perspective, and my ungrateful heart. God's grace is still amazing and unchanging. His mercies are still new every morning...and every minute thereafter. I don't have to live one more moment in hopelessness, because the God of hope is my Saviour and Lord! I can repent of my sin, find forgiveness at the foot of the cross, and run to Him and sit on the "lap" of His Word! 

God's marvelous grace can be ours...and ours in abundance...not tomorrow, not next Monday, not at the beginning of the new year...but RIGHT NOW. Let's take off those glasses that make everything look like one big mess and put on our eternal glasses that help us see everything through the sovereignty of the Lord.  Let's open God's Word and start "steeping" not just reading!

If we do that, we'll see "Glimpses of Grace" everywhere!