Guest Post: "Rhythms of Grace"

by Katie Bernier

Originally posted on http://notunredeemed.com/

Grace. It’s so much more than just undeserved favor or merit and pardon from sin.  Grace is the ability to abide in Christ. It’s the strength to walk through painful circumstances.

Grace is the promise of humility. “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Pride says “I’ve got this, I can do this, or I’m in control.” Humility is having God’s view of the situation, and with His perspective comes grace, and freedom. Freedom from expectations of others, freedom from sin and freedom from ourselves.

“Grace isn’t leniency when we have sinned.  Grace is the enabling gift of God, not to sin.  Grace is power, not just pardon.” -John Piper

Grace is power. Power to live 1 John, and be “in Christ”.

I need grace. I need lots of grace. When I began to pray to understand grace I had no idea the road the Lord would take me down to understand ‘grace in it’s various forms’. I assumed I would mess up and sin, and I would come to understand grace. But grace is oh so much more! Grace grows from humility, so God went for the root – pride.

The circumstances that are teaching me grace are also humbling me in their simplicity. I’m tripping over health issues and changes in several significant relationships in my life. Things I thought I could handle, things that aren’t a big deal to anyone else. Simple things are leaving me begging for grace and desolate for His presence.

It’s not the size of the issue that brings you to your knees, but that fact that you get to your knees that matters. That humbles me. And there is where the grace begins. 

When life is spinning out of control, grace is what keeps us sane, what gives us something to hold on to. 

When the fluff of life and our comfort is stripped away, we recognize grace through humble lenses; sunshine, a prayer, a smile, sleep, peace, His whispers in the dark – these are evidence of grace all around us.

The more I need grace, the more I see others around me need it too. You don’t know others need grace till you need it yourself, and you can’t give grace until you have received it. 

C.J. Mahaney says grace is remembering that every “Individual has been previously acted upon by God. That’s the divine perspective we must begin with or else we will be tempted to look for others deficiencies rather than for evidence of grace in their lives.” – Humility – True Greatness

We can encourage others by pointing out the grace of God in their lives, as we recognize it in our own.

Grace has many, many, forms. And we are told to administer them to each other. “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” 1 Peter 4:10 ESV

In order to administer God’s grace (and receive it) we must first recognize what grace is. I’m still learning that, but I encourage you to look for the rhythms of grace in your life. They are there – they just go undetected in our frazzled rushing about. Grace is God getting the glory. 

Is He getting the glory in your life?