“Wonderful grace of Jesus
Greater than all my sin
How shall my tongue describe it?
Where shall its praise begin?
Taking away my burden, setting my spirit free
The wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.”

“All sufficient grace for even me!”

How shall I describe it? Where shall its praise begin? Grace is one of the most beautiful words and powerful concepts in the Bible. It is often described as “unmerited favor” which is a nice, brief and apt description but makes it sound so simplistic and so mundane, like a quick catch phrase. For that and other reasons I find it inadequate for such a phenomenal gift from our loving God. To me it sounds like a one time thing, which of course it is, when speaking only of the justification of our souls through the death , burial and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But God’s grace does not stop there. It is so much more. It is all pervasive in the life of the Christian and the non-Christian alike. God’s gentle rain falls on the just and the unjust. The warmth and light of the sun, the beauty of the whole creation which declares to all the glory of the one true God is available to the saved and the unsaved alike by the grace of God.

God’s grace is an outflow of his never ending mercy. It means that God is continually and perpetually favorably disposed toward mankind. For the Christian it is vital to her life in Christ. It is free, abundant and ever present like God Himself. I personally like the description, “grace is the divine influence upon the human heart.” That is all encompassing. It is God’s grace, through the work of the Holy Spirit that influences the human heart to be drawn to His Son, Jesus Christ. It is this divine influence on the heart that draws men and women into Christian service, and good works, works wrought by God. It is this divine influence on the human heart that draws us to God in times of trouble, sickness and death instead of causing us to look to the safety of our money or science and technology or to retreat within ourselves, or feel hopeless and become bitter.

The teacher of the first Bible study I ever did described “this grace in which we stand” as a room called grace, filled with grace—a safe space, a place of strength, a place of wisdom and learning, a place of continual forgiveness and freedom, a place of comfort where God wipes away our tears and brings joy in the morning, a place where we can bask in His lovingkindness and His light and truth. That is as all encompassing as God is omnipresent and omnipotent. And to sing the praises of God’s grace will take eternity, but we can begin now.

Music Link:  Wonderful Grace of Jesus  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsPc-Ix3_ow&list=RDvsPc-Ix3_ow#t=2