Day XIII: Grace: Cheap or Costly?

"Mercy can be defined as "not getting what we deserve." We are sinners who deserve God's righteous wrath, but in his mercy, he forgives us. We don't go to hell. Grace goes even farther: It means we "get what we don't deserve." Christ paid the debt owed for our sin. Not only did we not get what we deserve, Jesus got what we had coming to us. He then offers us what we don't deserve - forgiveness and salvation" and a relationship with our Creator.

Romans 6:23
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Ephesians 2:8-9
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."

Titus 3:3-7
At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.


"God's incredible grace is rich and free. Yet we often take it for granted. How wonderful that Christ pays for all our sins. However, as sinful people we often take advantage of this. We shouldn't say, "I'll just do what I want... he's paid for it anyway.""

Romans 6:15
"What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!"

"Have you ever done something really special for somebody, and that person really appreciated it? How did the giving and thankful response affect the relationship? It brought you closer together, didn't it? Have you done something wonderful - even sacrificial - for someone, but he shrugged and hardly even acknowledged your efforts? How did that reaction shape the relationship? Sadly, that's the way many of us treat the grace of God."

I love to make art and do so through: card crafting, note making, bracelet beading/macramé, painting, etc. Often, I make little things to give a friend. It is amazing the amount of time you may put into a Christmas card or a painting.

I will never forget giving my friend a painting of her horse. She put hours into training this horse that she loved dearly, but was too sick to go on. So in memory of this horse, I spent hours laboring over a painting. I wanted to add some final touches, but time was running out. So I let it dry, wrapped it up and sat, almost holding my breath as she opened it on her birthday. She held the painting and cried. I knew deep down she cherished that horse and in turn, my painting. I knew she loved what I had made... it was one element in one of many solidifying our relatively new relationship. How different it would have been if she pulled it from the tissue paper, shrugged and said "Thanks, I guess."

"When we take God's grace for granted, we cheapen it. Cheap grace is the sterile doctrine of forgiveness divorced from Jesus himself. It is the teaching of Christian freedom that is neat and clean, separated from the blood and agony of the cross. Cheap grace is often without obedience, right doctrine without passion, the shell without the substance. In this teaching of the free gift of grace, forgiveness is taken for granted so we don't need to face Jesus with our sin. We feel no deep sorrow over our moral failures, and the deep desire to be delivered from sin is missing. You see, it's already paid for, so it's no big deal. Going along with this misperception of the grace of God is the idea that the Christian life should be effortless. "If God loves me so much and is so powerful," the thought goes, "then he won't ask me to do anything too hard, and he'll give me everything I need." When we feel God is asking us to make a hard choice, we get confused... and we quit the game. If we only signed on for a pleasure cruise, being a disciple of Jesus Christ will be a big disappointment!"

When I was younger, I went to a church that recited "Our Father" and received Communion every Sunday. Both of which are not wrong, but I was coming with a wrong heart. I felt no remorse for my sins and barely new Jesus. I received communion and knew what to say, but just to taste the bread. Oh, how I was missing the bread of life.

Church was a place, not a people when I was younger. Now, I know that is completely false and this is true: the church is the people within the body of Christ, not a building. I know that grace in fact is not cheap, but costly.

"The opposite of cheap grace is costly grace. Our forgiveness and eternal life cost the Father the life of his Son. It cost Jesus the anguish of Gethsemane and the agony of Calvary. The nails were not symbolic; they were made of iron. The whip and the crown of thorns were not theoretical. The cut his flesh and his blood flowed. His death was not just an example to us. It caused a tectonic earthquake in the history of the Universe and in the lives of every person who has ever lived. The grace of God is centered in, and cannot possibly be divorced from, a person. He is the treasure more worthy than anything we have. He is the one we worship and obey because he is worthy."

2 Corinthians 5:14-15
"For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again."

Therefore, grace is not the real thing unless it makes a real difference in our lives. " We need, Paul said, to be "convinced" that the price Jesus paid rescued us from eternal damnation and gave us hope, life and forgiveness. When we understand even a little of the price Jesus paid, it transforms us. We no longer live for ourselves but for him...When God's grace takes root, incredible things happen in us and through us...

Full commitment to Christ is both a decision and a process. At each moment, we are asked to live completely for him and not for ourselves. We make that choice dozens of times each day. If we are serious about following him, God will take us deeper, ever deeper, into the depths of his heart. There we will have even more difficult decisions to make because the light will shine in the crevices of our hearts and we will find selfishness we never knew existed. The, again as always, we need to focus on the costly grace bought for us by Jesus Christ. We cling to him and let him change our lives... It is an incredible price, and if we grasp it, grace changes our lives forever."

When I was in high school, I finally met Jesus. I am more satisfied than I ever was. I have peace in my heart and my actions are produced by the faith and overflow of Christ's love in me. To serve God is the greatest thing I could ever do with my life. Yes, I stumble and fall, but Christ's love covers all. In high school, I finally realized what grace and mercy meant in my life and for my life. It has and continually transforms my life.

When we love God, we change the way we respond to uprooting sin, loving God, loving people, and desiring to know Jesus. To wrap our minds around God's grace is hard. It's so backwards compared to this world.

Ok. So Grace is insane! But God loves us. Unconditionally.

Jesus came to save the world.

Today, people are starving, being sex trafficked, contemplating life (why live?), being sexually abused, dying, feeling lonely and much more. There is heart ache (Psalm 34). This may seem pretty messed up if God created a world and it was good. Eden was a place when the world was right. Children weren't starving to death and being forced to have sex 8 hours a day. This is what the Bible is about - God reclaiming the World... Revelation! It will be right here again. Jesus said the Kingdom of heaven is here... it's right here. The devil is a liar. He lies to us and he has destroyed the Garden. Bombs and bullets is not going to piece back together our world, only by a changing of our hearts.

Does this make us want to share the Kingdom? You bet it does!
It is the hope for this world. The Bible is about repairing this broken world: declaring war on Satanic lies and developing a loving relationship with Christ.

The best plan I could have for my life isn't the master plan, but the Master's Plan. If you think you have a better idea for your life than God does... check out creation. If God can make a mountain, the ocean, the trees... He even makes the trees change colors. Just imagine what He could do with our lives... If we really gave Him everything.

All quotes in this post that are not the Bible or followed by another person's name are from David Nasser's A Call to Die