Amazing, Marvelous, Wonderful Grace

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.

Titus 2:11

I'm someone who at times likes to just sit and think. I haven't really had a lot of time to sit lately, because I've had a lot going on to say the least. Even so, there's something that has been on my mind a lot over the last two or three days. The thing that has been on my mind is grace.

I guess it started on Sunday night. Over the last two or three months, I've been working with one of the teenage girls at my church to form a new duet. We sang together in a service for the first time Sunday night, and we sang the song "No Other Word for Grace but Amazing." We had been working on it for some time, but it seemed to lodge in my mind that night. Since then, I've been thinking about grace, listening to songs about grace, and meditating of Bible verses that deal with grace.

I think that all too often grace becomes little more than a buzzword to many Christians, but it's an incredibly deep subject. The simple definition of the word is unmerited favor. That's an outstanding definition, but what does it really mean? How undeserving are we, and how big is the favor?

Let's consider where we all begin. We all start out guilty. We all start out facing the death penalty. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." There is one trait that everyone of us inherited from our fathers: sin. That can be traced all the way back to Adam. That in itself condemns us, but beyond that, we willingly choose to sin. We've all been confronted with a decision between right and wrong and knowingly and willingly done the wrong thing. Even further, we choose to persist in that sin. Therefore, we're all sinners by birth, by choice, and by practice.

We can't free ourselves from that snare. There is Someone who can, but He is the one that we have offended with every single one of our sins. Even when we feel that our sins are no big deal because they're "victimless crimes," every sin is an affront to God. "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:  There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." We have all broken God's righteous law and turned against Him, and He's the only One that can forgive our sins.

That should seal the deal, right? For all intents and purposes, we have all spit in the face of the Judge. We have insulted the only One who has the power of grace in His hands. Therefore, the grace should be out of our reach. Not so. "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

We could not be any less deserving because of Who was offended by our sins, but the favor also couldn't be any greater because He paid for it. He paid for it with the blood of His own Son. We're all losers in the game of life, failing more spectacularly than anyone has ever done in any sort of competition we've ever seen, but the grace of God still hangs a gold medal around the neck of anyone who will accept the gift.

God's grace is amazing. It's marvelous. It's wonderful. Then again, it's not. It's not, because human language completely fails in attempting to describe it. That's because it's not human. It's Divine. But the experience is also indescribable. There is nothing greater than the knowledge that our sins are forgiven. But as great as that is, the depth of the grace of God makes it an even more incredible thing.