2 Peter 3:17-18

¹⁷ Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. ¹⁸ But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

What is grace? Some say unmerited favor…but what is that?

It’s a gift of God…ok! but what does that look like?

We encounter moments of grace all the time …but we miss them. They go unnoticed. We have a small window like a picture snap shot to capture and recognize the grace of God.

I noticed 5 element of grace in my study….

Good pleasure – is when we enjoy what He has given us. A flicker of light that said to your heart God is here. A wild turkey with his feathers all spread that caused you to catch  your breath because of the beauty. A moment when you just felt like God was looking right at you. Sometimes these Good pleasure moments awaken a space in your heart to reach for something you long for, like the time I was watching a singer on stage, I witness his passion for singing to the Lord and it made my heart leap. Those are grace moments of good pleasure. They make you say WOW!

Remembrance- His grace reminds us that we were once far from Him but now He is near. He reminds us of who we are, calling us to Himself. He grace calls to us saying wonderfully made, beloved, one of His own, special and set apart for His love.

Access – If we know Him there is nothing to fear. We may mess up, lose hope, fall daily and sin. We can come to Him anytime. Good, bad or ugly His love never ends and in his grace he accepts us and invited us in.

Christ’s Body – He places us in a body. We are all a part of it. We all have something to give to another. This aspect of grace is given in the unity and fellowship of being within a family. This is the place we receive uplifting, encouragement and help along our journey. We don’t have to have stages or platforms, not even ministries. This is the place of friendship. We are all one to someone. Learning to walk in Christ in the process.

Expose Darkness – The bible tells us that it is God’s goodness that leads us to repentance and there is no repentance without exposure. God uncovers our dark places and shines His light in and pours in the water of His love so that we can GROW in GRACE.

We are excited about encountering feelings of pleasure when Gods love is rushing us and running hard after us to produce wonder in our lives. We are thankful for the remembrances He gives to help us know we are loved and accepted. We are humbled that He would grant us access to Himself. We are even pleased that He sends us human helpers to encourage us and lift us up. But when it comes to this we have a hard time believing this too is grace. We can not Grow in Grace without this. Our hearts will remain unchanged and we will not come up higher.  The pain of seeing our own sin and the suffering that may come from the consequences never feels like grace but even in this He is bringing us out of darkness to light. And any light shone on us from God is certainly grace.

May we never take HIS GRACE for granted…let us step into that space of awareness where we have two inches of grace before we miss His goodness, where we remember we are loved, we know we are accepted, we meet people who are here to help us, and we take the exposure and refuse to be left in our mess! Now that is GROWING in GRACE!

Starla