Grace…what is it? How do we walk in it?
Grace is not cheap, nor is it free. Listen to these words from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate” (Bonhoeffer).
Grace is not free it will be costly. We all want grace to be easily and swiftly bestowed upon us, and yet we are stingy when lavishing it upon anyone else. Am I wrong? So what is grace? How do we know it when we see it?
Grace is going to cost you- in 2 Samuel 24:24 we read these words, “Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing” (NKJV). There is certainly a cost to something that is close to the heart of God. You see, God not sparing His own Son (see Romans 8:32) sent Jesus to die on the cross for your sin and mine. Grace cost Him dearly, and we often think we can get by with less? It should not be this way - we must sacrifice something.
Grace is going to cost you - When we were still sinners, God demonstrated His love for us by sending His son to die on the cross (Romans 5:8 not verbatim). You know something - I was very unlikeable and so were you. When you extend grace to someone - do you do it reluctantly, hesitantly, begrudgingly? Then is that really grace? It will cost you. It will cost you dearly for it to be grace, and then it shall abound.
Grace is going to cost you - Do you see a pattern here? What will it cost you? time? energy? financially? Your life for another?
a. When you bestow grace, it will be to someone who doesn’t deserve such favor. When God bestowed grace to us - we were His enemy and definitely deserved only death - He gave grace all the more! Amen!
This is a brief first posting on grace - how does this help relate to trauma and PTSD? You will see as we move forward.
Let’s keep walking in His grace shall we?