For of His (Jesus’) fullness, we have all received, and grace upon grace. John 1:16

What is grace?  

In his book, “What Does It Mean To Be Welcoming?” Travis Collins beautifully defines grace, “Grace is God’s unconditional, undeserved, unlimited, unrelenting love.  Grace mans our place in God’s heart and our value in God’s eyes are not determined by our decisions.”

Adam and Eve’s decision to reject God’s law broke the perfect fellowship and communion that God intended for His creation. All the evil, pain, and illness we experience in this world is due to Adam and Eve’s deliberate disobedience.  The choice created a chasm between humanity and God that no man or woman by their effort is able to close. The prophet Isaiah says, “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away” (Isaiah 64:6). The Apostle Paul says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23). No matter how good one may be, a person cannot obtain the holy standard of God.

God looks deep within our hearts and examines our motives.  Paul says, “For all have sinned,” there’s no exception to it.  All of humanity stands guilty of falling short of God’s holy and perfect standard; God’s standards are more infinite than human ways (Isaiah 55:6-12). If left to our own device, all of us stand condemned.  This is where God’s grace comes in. God’s grace is not earned or deserved, it is a free gift that comes to us not as a concept, but in the person of Jesus Christ. His grace is “unconditional, undeserved, unlimited, unrelenting love.”   

God’s love is not something you earn or deserve, it’s a gift you receive.