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I have to admit that I am not a graceful person. In my first year of college, during Christmas break, my mother signed me up for private lessons with a woman who coached me on how to be graceful. Now, for my mother to spend money on such lessons was an indication of how much help I needed! I was not then—still am not to this day—graceful.
But I’m happy to report to you that though I may never be graceful, I can be grace-full—full of grace. That is not contingent on my agility or nimbleness or any physical attributes. It is, instead, contingent on my openness to the grace of God and my willingness to let it fill my life.
In writing of our Savior, John says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus was and still is full of grace. As believers in Jesus Christ, you and I are in the process of being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory. We are to be filled with his Spirit, and therefore, we have the incredible opportunity to be filled with grace. Like Jesus, we can be full of grace.
When asked what was the one thing about Christianity that sets it apart from all other religions, C. S. Lewis responded, “Oh, that’s easy. It’s grace.” No other religion offers God’s love and redemption coming to us free of charge, as a gift, no strings attached, no performance required, no standards to meet. Only Christianity dares to make God’s love unconditional. That’s because Christianity has the only qualified Savior, Jesus Christ.
I want to encourage you to become very intentional about becoming a woman—or a man—who is grace-full; full of God’s grace. It must become more than a cliché, more than words we say or songs we sing. God’s grace needs to permeate every corner of our being so that we are living examples of his grace. And then, when we are full of God’s grace, we can become grace dispensers.
The song, “Amazing Grace”, is sung all over the world by people who have no understanding of its message of salvation through Jesus. But the idea of grace appeals to everyone.
But what does it mean for you and me in our world today to live grace-full lives? What does that look like? I’d like to give you the ABCs of grace-full living. Here is “A”:
A- Abundant
Jesus said: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). Jesus wasn’t talking about being full of money, or earthly success, or freedom from problems. He was talking about a life that is grace-full!
In 2 Corinthians 9:8 we read: “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” When the grace of God fills us, then it must flow out to others in the form of good works. What good works? The good works that you were created to do. Ephesians 2:10 says “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Here are a few examples of how we dispense grace to others:
- Someone is sick; you minister to their needs.
- Someone is rejoicing over good news, you rejoice with them.
- Someone has a broken heart. You cry with them, listen to them, sit with them, console them.
- Someone is wandering away from God. You confront them in love, admonish them, help them to come back into fellowship.
- Someone is lost in sin, without Christ. You share the gospel in every way you can, lovingly planting seeds of truth in their life.
- Someone needs financial help. You give out of love and concern.
- You teach the Word of God in a small group; you organize prayer for your company; you begin a Bible study at work or at home; you invite others to hear the Word of God.
These are just a few ways that we become grace dispensers to others, abounding in good works.
I can testify to you from personal experience that the abundant life Jesus promised us comes in knowing that God is using you in the lives of others. There is nothing more fulfilling than that.
So, A is Abundant living. The abundance Jesus came to give us is abundant joy and peace, and that should overflow into abundant good works—dispensing grace to others.
B- Bitter-less
Grace-full living is living without bitterness. Consider this passage from Hebrews:
See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled… Hebrews 12:15
Allowing bitter roots to grow in your heart will cause you to miss the grace-full life. There are many bitter roots that can become ingrained in the garden of our hearts. Consider these:
- The bitter root of rejection
It’s very easy to allow the pain of rejection to take root in your heart and bloom into bitterness.
- The bitter root of unfulfilled dreams
Unfulfilled dreams create a fertile ground for bitter roots.
- The bitter root of loss
What have you lost lately? Your job? Your pride? Has death robbed you of a loved one? Or divorce? Loss makes us vulnerable to bitterness.
This verse teaches us several things about bitter roots:
First, they grow. You can’t hold onto one little bitter twig. It won’t stay that size. It always grows.
Second, they cause trouble. Any little bitterness will cause you trouble. A great many of the emotional and mental breakdowns we see today have their beginnings in bitterness that was never dealt with.
Third, they defile many. Bitterness spills over to everyone around you. As parents we can transfer that bitter spirit to our children; as managers and employees we can transfer it to our co-workers. It is a poison that affects everyone it touches.
If you’re struggling with some bitterness today, I pray you will ask God to help you dig up those bitter roots so that you can enjoy the grace-full life that Jesus came to give you and you will be able to dispense grace to others.
C- Contented
Grace-full living is contented living. A contented person is one who is satisfied with who they are and what they have; they focus on what they have and not what they don’t have.
Does that describe you? I have to tell you that there are far too many days it does not describe me. I see a new house being built, and I think how nice it would be to have it. I peruse those catalogs that flood my mailbox and I can convince myself that I can’t live without something I saw in the catalog.
And we can lose our contentment by wishing we were a different person, with a different life, in a different place, having different gifts and abilities. Ever go there?
Living a discontented life will suck the grace of God right out of you. It will cause you to be restless, self-focused, resentful, envious.
Hebrews 13:5 says: “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”
You have to become intentional about being content if it’s ever going to become a reality in your life. You have to work at it, if you please. You have to pray it into your life. It doesn’t just happen.
The enemy of your soul will trip you up with discontent if you give him the opportunity. He knows that a discontented Christian is not going to dispense grace. So, he whispers those lies to you, convincing you that your life cannot be complete or full or good unless you have something or someone that you don’t now have. He’s a great liar, you know, and he knows how to get to you with lies that cause you to be discontented.
But we can learn contentment. The Apostle Paul wrote: “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (Philippians 4:12).
Contented living is freedom – and it is grace-full living.
In his marvelous book, Knowing God, J. I. Packer says that many church people “pay lip-service to the idea of grace, but there they stop. Their conception of grace is not so much debased as non-existent” (p. 116-117).
I find that I must be intentional about living a grace-full life – I have to think about it, pray about, and make choices each day that lead me to be a grace-full person.
We’ve looked at the ABCs of graceful living:
A – Abound in generosity, in good works.
B – Live a bitter-less life. We must pull up those weeds of bitterness as soon as they start to grow, because bitterness chokes grace out of our lives.
C – Learn to be content. Contentment is a trademark of a grace-full life.
This is a good description of grace-full living, though not exhaustive. But where do we get this grace? We can’t find it in ourselves; we can’t obtain it on our own; we don’t have that kind of power in ourselves.
Hebrews 4:16 says: “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” We find grace at the throne of God, which is a throne of grace. God is enthroned in grace. And the incredibly good news is that we can approach the throne of grace with confidence. We can be absolutely confident that we will be accepted there if we go in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And we can be absolutely confident that grace will be given to help us.
Maybe, like me, you are not a terribly graceful person, but would you like to be a grace-full person—full of God’s grace which you can give to others? It is available to any who will be intentional about living in the ABCs of God’s grace and making regular visits to the throne of grace.