An excerpt from Fortify Your Faith: Building an Unshakable Foundation of Radical Grace
An incorrect understanding of how grace and sin relate causes some strange doctrines. I have heard people say that if you fully receive God’s grace and don’t sacrifice and work hard on your sin, then you are taking grace for granted and that you think grace is cheap.
Taking Grace for Granted
To people who say believers in radical grace are taking it for granted, I say, “Yep, I am. God freely granted me His grace and asked me to take it.”
If we don’t fully receive it as free, then we might believe that we can do something to deserve it. No one will ever deserve God’s grace, no matter what they do. We need to let ourselves receive it without needing to earn it. Instead of finding reasons to feel guilty, listen to grace when it says, “I love you.” God's grace is unconditional, it's not something we can earn. Jesus grants it, and we take it. Period.
Additionally, for those who refuse God’s grace simply because some people use it as an excuse to sin, I would use an old idiom, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.” You don’t know whether people are saved or not. Only God knows that. Don’t miss out on the overwhelming blessing of living in God’s grace because of what you see others doing. Let God deal with them while you grab hold of His grace and enjoy the blessings it brings.
Grace Isn’t Cheap
Grace isn’t cheap. The word cheap implies it costs something; not much, but something. It did cost Jesus everything, but us? Nope. It doesn’t cost us anything. It isn’t cheap, it’s FREE. Grace is both totally free and extremely costly, but its cost to us doesn’t imply its value.
Grace is infinitely valuable, a priceless gift that shows how much we are cherished and loved by God.
The only way to cheapen or devalue the gift of grace is not to receive it. For example, let’s say you worked hard to save enough money to buy a car for your child. After giving it to them, they never drove it or acknowledged the gift. The reason they parked the car doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if they feel unworthy or can’t believe you offered them a gift without any strings attached. The point is that, for some reason, they didn’t use the gift given to them.
First, your child not using the car doesn’t inherently devalue the gift. Second, wouldn’t you feel as if they didn’t value the car? Or that they have cheapened it in their minds? Third, how would you feel?
God’s priceless gift of grace, though it cost Him everything, was free to us. Its inherent value is never lost, but we can diminish its value in our lives if we don’t fully receive it and use it.
When Jesus gave us the gift of the Gospel and bestowed His grace upon us, He knew we would still sin. He knew about our sinful nature, yet He still died for us. He knew we might choose to do unrighteous things, but He still chose to make us righteous so we could be with Him. He still chose to offer His incredible gift of grace to us without any expectations or requirements of us. That isn’t cheap grace; that is radical grace, a profound and transformative grace that inspires us to live a life of freedom and joy that reflects its value.
Grace Cost Jesus Everything
What is the value of grace? I’d say it is infinitely valuable. It is impossible to put a value on God’s grace. It cost God everything to give us His grace.
We read in verses such as John 15:13 and Matthew 27:50 that Jesus died for us.
1 Corinthians 6:20 tells us Jesus bought us for a price. What was that price? Jesus paid the price of His life to purchase all of humanity. How valuable is His life? I don’t believe we can even answer that question.
Grace, the ultimate gift, is truly free. It cannot be earned through our works, nor can it be deserved. This grace, given to us without condition, blesses us with the freedom to choose to walk in our new nature, to walk in love, and to walk hand-in-hand with Jesus, whose love reveals the immeasurable value He places on us.
What Jesus has done defines grace. His free but valuable gift of grace can only be devalued by our not fully receiving it and not confidently walking in it. That is radical grace.
This excerpt is from my new Bible study, Fortify Your Faith: Building an Unshakable Foundation of Radical Grace, available Oct 22/24 and can be pre-ordered now anywhere books are sold. Fortify Your Faith is the companion study to my award-winning book, Radical Grace: Live Free and Unashamed.
Copyright ©2024 Laurel Appel
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