That aggressive forgiveness we call grace

“All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn't, and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it's sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that's the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.” –Romans 5:20-21

 
Our team has been going through Romans together and the subject of grace has come up a lot in our conversations. It is one of those ideas that is so hard to wrap your mind around. There are so many grace analogies or definitions that we use to describe grace, such as these:
 
grace: gift of God to humankind; freedom from sin; "God’s unmerited favor";
 
“A pastor was traveling on a bus down a bumpy road. Seated next to him was a college student who noticed that the minister was reading his Bible. The minister asked, “Are you spiritually ready for the temptations that you will face in college?”
"I don’t have a problem with temptation," the young man told the minister. "I have strong willpower."
The minister took a pencil from his pocket and said, "I can make this pencil stand up on the cover of this Bible even though the bus ride is bumpy."
The young man said, "I’ll believe it when I see it. I don't think you can do it."
"Look, I’m doing it," he replied as the young man watched.
"Yeah, but you didn't tell me you would hold the pencil up with your hand."
"I didn't have to tell you," the pastor remarked. "Have you ever seen a pencil stand up on its own without someone holding it?"
The minister then let go of the pencil, which instantly fell over. "The only reason you stand," he continued, "is because God is holding you up with His hand."
   If God were to remove His hand of protecting grace, we would immediately fall into sin. Humility is depending completely on God, realizing that He upholds us by His grace.”
 

Grace is so much more than we can describe though. Grace covers us and is poured over us. Like ‘How He Loves Us’ says, “If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinkin’.” We are caught in this grace no matter what we do. Nothing can make God love us more and nothing can make Him love us less. But on the flip side we can’t use grace as an excuse, but rather we should look at it as a reason for passionate obedience! I feel no greater pleasure than to serve my God and to be the pure, blameless child He created me to be.
 
I definitely have not grasp this concept of grace fully. Being here and hearing the stories of my teammates and the boys/girls I teach, I have found living and breathing proof of God’s gracious hands on their lives. And I know in my life God pours grace over me every day. It’s just so amazing! 🙂
 

“Not because there is grace do you get to live in sin,
but because there is forgiveness you get to live in grace.”