Yet we can’t get the grace-gratitude dynamic right if we aren’t clear on what grace means. The more we understand how kind God has been to us and the more we are overcome by His mercy, the more we are inclined to love Him and to serve Him.

It is a precious gift that has given me what I don’t deserve: God’s favor, blessing, health, and wholeness-spirit, soul, and body.A number of decades ago at the Ligonier Valley Study Center, we sent out a Thanksgiving card with this simple statement: “The essence of theology is grace the essence of Christian ethics is gratitude.” In all the debates about our role versus God’s role in sanctification-our growth in holiness-we’d stay on the right track if we’d remember this grace-gratitude dynamic.

And they’ve received His grace, knowing that grace will give them what they don’t deserve.Ĭonfession: Through faith in Jesus Christ, I have been saved by the grace of God. Have you ever wondered why some believers are more blessed than others? Is it because of their spiritual performance, the hours spent reading the Word, praying, and fasting? No! They are blessed because they actually believe God has justified them. Grace will give you what you do not deserve.Grace will qualify you for what you do not qualify for.Grace will give you what you did not earn.Grace makes a way for God to bless you in life-regardless of your merits.But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness” (Romans 4:4-5 NKJV). The Bible says, “ Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.

God’s grace, His unmerited favor, is simply God giving you something you don’t deserve. So when you see the word grace in your Bible, you can accurately interchange it with the word favor. The biblical definition of grace is “unmerited favor.” It is something you didn’t earn it is the gift of God. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NKJV, brackets added).

What does giving grace mean