I cannot think of a more comforting thought to fill our minds with as we wind down for the night than the grace of God.  There are not too many subjects in the entire Bible that are more significant than grace.  The practical definition of grace is, “God’s unmerited favor.”  That is a good description of grace because nothing God does for us is merited.

The most important aspect of grace is the salvation it provides, but God does more than save us by grace.  Paul was a man who understood this well.  The word for grace, Charis, appears about 155 times in the New Testament, depending on the translation to which you refer, and 100 of those references are found in the epistles written by Paul.  Paul truly believed that all that he was, was due to the grace of God.  He viewed, not only his Christianity as a matter of God’s grace, but also the fact that he was an apostle (Galatians 2:8-9).  One of Paul’s most famous statements is found in 1 Corinthians 15:10.

1 Corinthians 15:9-10 (ESV)
⁹ For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

This should be the attitude that we all have, especially as it relates to our Christianity.  We, too, are what we are by God’s grace.  There is no room for boasting because our justification comes by grace, secured through the redemption that is in Christ (Romans 3:24).  Thus, Paul asked the question, “Then what becomes of our boasting?” (Romans 3:27)  It is obviously excluded.

The only difference between us and the world, so far as sin is concerned, is that we have been forgiven.  It is not as if we are saved because we have sinned fewer times than people who have not been saved, or that our sins are somehow less offensive.  No, while some sins carry more immediate consequences than others, all sin is offensive to God.  Before our conversion, we were dead in sins, and the only reason we are not now in such a condition is because we, by the grace of God, have been forgiven.

Thank God for His grace.  It was by that grace that God developed a plan of salvation based on faith rather than sinless living.  It would have been completely just for God to demand sinless living as the criterion for salvation because it is not His fault that we sin, the teaching of Calvinism notwithstanding.  We sin when we are lured away by our own desires (James 1:14).  God’s plan of salvation, then, is a matter of mercy, not justice.  It is a matter of God’s saving grace.

It was by grace that Jesus was willing to give up heaven and become the sacrifice for our sins.  Paul said, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).  We should be thankful that Jesus was willing to give up so much for nothing in return except suffering on a cross.

It is by the grace of God, that we know how to be saved and stay saved.

Titus 2:11-12 (ESV)
¹¹ For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, ¹² training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

Truly, God’s grace is amazing.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.