It’s a good day to write. Rain falling consistently. We returned from our wonderful trip and I finally finished my piece, posted a few minutes ago, on Integrity. While we were traveling, Diane shared a brief email she’d received, on grace.

Last year, I wrote a lot about grace and may end up writing more. After all, I think grace is one of the most underappreciated aspects of the Christian faith and perhaps the most difficult concept to grasp, in reality. I have for some time viewed grace as a gift, undeserved, but freely given. That sounds simple enough but when applied to things of ultimate meaning, it’s a rather deep and profound concept.

I recently heard grace distinguished from mercy, thusly: Mercy is not receiving what we deserve. Grace is receiving that which we don’t deserve.

Here is the emailed excerpt from a book by Kyle Idleman.

Numerous theological books teach the doctrine of grace, and some of them have helped me enormously. To be clear, though, this is not one of those. You’re still welcome to write a blog post or send me an email pointing this out, but it won’t be much fun because I’ll be quick to agree with you.

I’m less interested, and for that matter less qualified, to teach you about the doctrine of grace. I am much more interested in helping you experience grace. I tend to think grace is best and most fully understood not by way of explanation alone but through experience.

Think of it like romantic love. If you want to understand romantic love, you can open a scientific textbook and have romantic love explained in terms of neural and chemical reactions. And that might be helpful, but there’s really only one way to understand romantic love. It must be experienced.

And when something is best understood through experience, it’s best taught through stories. Stories bring you into an experience.

The Bible is full of narratives that teach us about grace. When Jesus wanted to help people understand the grace of God, he didn’t give a lengthy and detailed explanation. Instead he told the story of the prodigal son. 

Compare what we learn about grace from Paul with what we learn about grace from Jesus. Paul uses the word grace more than a hundred times in his letters as he helps the church understand grace. Jesus, on the other hand, never used the word grace. Instead he showed us what it looked like. Both approaches are helpful and needed, and certainly Paul’s explanations were motivated by his own experience of grace and his desire for others to experience it. But if grace is explained without being experienced, it really doesn’t have much effect.

I’ve sat through several seminary classes taking detailed notes on the subject of grace. I’ve memorized countless Bible verses that describe grace. I’ve read numerous books about grace. But do you know what has taught me the most about grace? My own story and the stories of others who have experienced grace.

God’s grace is compelling when explained but irresistible when experienced. (My emphasis)

It’s my prayer that you won’t miss grace but rather will powerfully experience the grace effect in your life—and no matter what you have done, no matter what has been done to you, you will personally experience the truth that grace is greater.

Grace is powerful enough to erase your guilt.

Grace is big enough to cover your shame.

Grace is real enough to heal your relationships.

Grace is strong enough to hold you up when you’re weak.

Grace is sweet enough to cure your bitterness. Grace is satisfying enough to deal with your disappointment.

Grace is beautiful enough to redeem your brokenness.

Grace explained is necessary, but grace experienced is essential.

Here are some follow up questions:

So, how have I experienced grace? Have I received it? What does it look like? What does it feel like? Has it been significant enough to dramatically affect my life? If so, in what way? Have I extended it to someone else? Was it hard? How was it received? The author of the passage above uses some pretty descriptive language at the end. He says grace is powerful, big, real, strong, sweet, beautiful, necessary and essential. Do I agree? Can I identify those elements of grace in my life?

Many of the major faith traditions teach love of one kind or another. Many teach justice of one kind or another. Many teach mercy of one kind or another. Many teach that salvation or its variants is achieved by those who work for it. Only one, to my knowledge, teaches grace anything like that taught by Jesus and experienced by many who follow him.

So, yes, I agree that grace is powerful, big, real, strong, sweet, beautiful, necessary and essential. I name it as the air I breathe and I can only aspire to grow into its presence as both receiver and giver. For that I need a lot of help. Thankfully, I’ve an idea where to find it. Amen.