Grace - an Unexpected Gift

As a Christian, I’ve always understood that Grace was a gift God gave us that we didn’t deserve, and that mercy was us not getting what we did, but I’ve never fully understood the full meaning of what grace entailed. According to the dictionary, grace in terms of its Christian meaning is ‘goodwill or favour’, but having recently read the book ‘Extraordinary – The life you’re meant to live’ by best-selling author John Bevere, I’ve learnt that grace is so much more! John explains that grace is actually the power that is released in our lives, that enables us to live the kind of life that pleases God. Many Christians believe, or rather hope, that when they get saved, God waves a magical wand over them that suddenly transforms them into these perfect and pure people . Yes, it can happen that we are so transformed in God’s presence that we are set free from addictions, foul language etc, but in most cases, Christians have a tough time trying to meet the standards set in the Bible, purely because they do not understand this gift of grace that God has given them. I can speak from experience when I admit what a struggle it can be to try and live a Godly life in your own ability. For many years I battled to quit smoking. So you can imagine my delight to learn that not only was it grace’s power that I needed to do that, but I also learnt how to access it. John explains that our faith is the pipeline of grace, and that grace is the water that flows to us. Although we get connected to this pipeline when we become Christians, we need to learn how to access the power of the grace water in order to be able to achieve the life that God meant for us to be living. If we were able to catch just a glimpse of the kind of power that God intended for us to have, we would certainly agree that Grace is a much needed and unexpected gift!