"What is Grace?" taken from the NIV Mom's Devotional Bible
Charis, the Greek word for "grace" is one of the most difficult Greek words to translate into English. Words like favor, beauty, thankfulness, gratitude, delight, kindness and benefit are all derived from the root that gives us the word grace. If we have a tough time translating the word, it's no wonder we struggle to comprehend the concept of Grace. Digging through scripture, we can come up with a picture of grace. Grace is always tied to the heart and character of God. In Deuteronomy we're told that God drove out Israel's enemies not because Israel deserved his intervention, but because He chose by grace to fulfill His word to His nation. In Isaiah we see that God longed to demonstrate His grace to a disobedient nation. In Jeremiah God underlined His grace by promising to bring Israel back from captivity.
Grace is God's character demonstrated in undeserved love. In fact, grace is God. It is His character illustrated in our lives with the scrawled signature of a cross.
Wow! This is an excellent definition of grace! I can't imagine having the word grace describe my character. Words like favor, beauty, thankfulness, gratitude, delight, kindness, and benefit. These are what we should be striving for in our every day routines. We were made in the likeness of God. That means we should be striving to have a character like His and grace is His character. Wow, that's all I can say.
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