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I have to admit I am not a graceful person. In my first year of college, during Christmas break, my mother lined 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.
This woman tried hard to make me more graceful, but unfortunately, I am like a bull in a china shop. If it can be bumped into, I bump into it. If it is fragile, I break it. If it can be tripped over, I trip over it. I’ve come to the conclusion if you’re not naturally a graceful person, there’s just not a whole lot you can do about it.
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 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.
This week 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.