God's grace can be used interchangeably to describe the good gifts that persons enjoy in life freely. Of course there are numerous gifts that include aspects of nature and those that center on the wondrous actions of mankind. The foundations of grace lie in the creation of life and the Book of Genesis allows one to accept and appreciate this grace of God. Additionally, grace reflects the redemption that mankind will receive in the Kingdom as God’s grace includes the forgiveness of sin and a place in the life hereafter. So what exactly then is grace?
On the one hand, the Old Testament presents grace as graciousness and kindness without obligations. On the other hand, the New Testament presents grace as a specific kindness that gives pleasure to those who share the kindness and those who receive the kindness. Additionally, this grace of the New Testament speaks specifically to grace that redeems persons from sin. In fact, grace is clear in my life as I realized that God accepts me fully with all my flaws and conditions. Keith Starkenburg suggests that God’s graciousness is more than being honest and truthful and is instead a response to our untruthfulness (Starkenburg, 2014). Therefore, God’s grace is closely associated with consistency in our speech and actions.
Numerous sections of Paul’s epistles to the Ephesians point to Grace and peace from God (Anselem Academic Study Bible, 2013). This reference suggests that one cannot experience peace if there is the absence of God’s grace. Based on my understanding of grace, it is clear that grace cannot be earned as God often do things for His people that they could not do alone and one can only find this grace when one believes in one’s inner strength and God’s goodness. I often am reminded of 1 Corinthians 15:10 that reinforces that God’s grace has made me what I am and the grace of God is always with me. There have been many times when I have been tired and have deadlines to meet in order to achieve academic success. I have reached my inner limits and could not possible complete one of my final courses. To add to that I was experiencing writer’s block on the paper and had no idea on how to complete the paper.
I had no faith in my ability to carry out the paper as I did not even know where to start. The deadline was also up and I cried endlessly. A friend of mine sat down with me and we prayed for strength as the professor was no not to give extension on papers. At the start of the class, I realized that the professor was absent and had sent word that we had an extension on the paper. Of course, I believed in my prayers and I had faith that God would give me His grace and mercy through the professor. The truth is that one must learn to trust that God will always give us what we deserve because I know that I am not one who procrastinate when it comes on to my assignments. I could easily accept that I needed God’s grace and I humbly begged for His mercy. My faith in God made it possible to persevere in all that I do.
Reference
Anselem Academic Study Bible – Catholic Edition (2013), Anselem Academic (Pub.), New
American Bible – Revised Edition. Print
Starkenburg, K., (2014) Lying, Truthfulness and the Grace of God, Perspectives: A Journal of
Reformed Thought, Retrieved from http://perspectivesjournal.org/blog/2014/10/30/lying-truthfulness-and-the-grace-of-god-2/ 7 Feb 2016
