The Ragamuffin

What is grace? Countless icons of popular culture, from song lyrics to ugly tattoos to well-meaning pastors, throw this word around but rarely stop to define it. 

I've found myself in the past couple of months yearning to go back to the bare bones of my faith. When crap hits the fan, it comes down to two things: what you believe to be true about God and what you believe to be true about yourself. Resorting to vague, 'Christian-ese' placations that you don't completely understand will every time leave you itching for more depth. How many times have you heard or sung the phrase, "I owe it all to God's grace", or "your grace covers me", or "I need your grace" and not thought twice about what those truths actually mean?

What is grace? Here are the bare bones of the matter: Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines grace as an 'unmerited, divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification'. Snaps for Webster! I think he hit the nail pretty squarely on the head. 

There's only one thing that his definition is missing: an explanation of the ultimate standard of grace displayed through Jesus on the cross. Jesus is the only flawless definition of grace. It is through the death of God in the flesh that we freely live, and that is the act of grace we as Christians are so indebted to.

My parents (rockstars that they are) did an incredible job of instilling this truth in me from a very young age. I grew up in the south, and therefore was an often-spanked child. I'd mouth off, promptly receive a good slap on the bum, and be sent on my merry way. I can remember multiple times when I knew to my core that I had done something objectively wrong and deserved a spanking, but my parents used that opportunity to say that they would this time give me 'grace'. "What's grace?" I would ask, hoping that it meant that I'd get out of a rump-smacking. They would lovingly explain to me that grace meant that, even when I 100% deserved punishment, they were going to withhold the penalty which was rightfully due. Wow. I knew that grace rocked from an eeeeearly age. Grace= no spanking?! I'm in.

Now that I know Christ, what I only vaguely understood then is now crystal clear. When we did absolutely nothing to deserve it, God sent his Son to die the death that we deserved. My parents' metaphor is so applicable in view of what Jesus did for us. Where we had sinned and therefore 100% deserved death, we were instead granted life through the act of Jesus. That's grace. 

I, a sinner, have been granted the righteousness of Jesus when I did nothing to deserve it. It is by grace that I live, not by my own merit. It is by grace that I have been saved through Jesus, the ultimate giver of grace. 

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

Ephesians 2:4-5