I’m a grace kind of girl.  I need it.  I crave it.  I talk it.  I breathe it.  I write about it.  I attempt to parent with it.  Grace is getting so much more than you deserve and receiving favor when you shouldn’t.  So as believers of the gospel, who know that our salvation comes only from God’s grace, we hear a lot about Grace, but I’m not so sure we actually think a lot about what it means for our daily lives.  Grace should be lived out in the real world.  How do we do that?  First let’s see what grace is not.

Grace does not mean that you can live however you want, for as long as you want, and then decide to come back to righteous living on your own terms.  Grace does not mean that there are no consequences for your actions.  Grace does not mean that we trade in holiness with a “feel-good” Christianity.  Grace does not excuse our sin.

The Apostle Paul said in Romans 6:1-2 – “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace?  Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?”  We don’t sin in order to experience more grace.  We die to sin because we HAVE experienced grace.  Grace comes with a responsibility, not a free ticket to do anything we want.  Luke 12:48 says, “When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.”

Think on it this way:  If you’ve been given great grace, then extending great grace is required of you.  If you have been forgiven much, then forgiving much is required of you.  If you have been shown mercy, then mercy toward your neighbor is required of you.  If you have been shown sacrificial love, then sacrificial love is required of you.

Friend, if you are a Christian, then you have been given great grace, been forgiven of damning sin, been shown mercy that was out of your reach and undeserved and had the greatest sacrifice of love demonstrated on your behalf.  Grace is overflowing toward you.  And to one who has been given much, much is required.  Grace is a gift.  But with it comes the responsibility to use it wisely, to give it to others and to walk in holiness.  What will you do with this grace gift that has been given to you?  Will you cheapen it with a careless life, or will you honor it with devotion?  What if we demonstrate our love to the Grace-Giver by a life of holiness?  John 14:21 – “Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me.”

May you walk in real grace today in your world.