It is a gift that defines our lives as Christians. Every Christian has that mark within him, Grace – God’s riches at Christ’s expense. Through the gift of Grace, undeserving people are able to be adopted into the family of God, given a new life, and new identity. To many, this gift of Grace is not fair and does not quite make sense. To others, it is not okay for God to simply offer this gift of Grace to anyone who would accept it. The latter was a position shared by Israel; as God’s chosen nation, it could never occur to them that their God, who had made them His would dare to extend the gift of Grace to others. Ironically, their patriarch, Abraham from whom they came was a pagan, a worshipper of idols before God called him. Yet, this part of their history had been forgotten. They chose to stand only from the position of their new identity and forgot where they came from, therefore failing to realize that they themselves were once sinners needing grace.
In the book of Romans, Paul uses many examples starting with Abraham to show the Romans that believing is a gift of grace and not of work. You see, Paul was dealing with converted Gentiles who were becoming prideful of the fact that they had been grafted into the family of God without effort and that pride was getting into their heads as they were starting to believe that they were better than the Jews. At the same time, Jews were having a hard time believing that salvation had come to the Gentiles without them needing to do any effort such as circumcision or following the practices and customs of Israel. Some even believed at one point that it was not possible for Gentiles to know God or rather to be known by God, that is why Peter, when sent to the house of Cornelius was beyond amazed that this gift of Grace had been made available to Gentiles as well (Acts 10). Not long after that incident, Peter had to give an account to other Jewish Christians to tell them that his actions were sanctioned by the Holy Spirit. Do see the difficult situation Paul had to deal with? It is quite intriguing and amazing to see how a gift that nobody worked to get or deserved is disputed by each recipient arguing against the fact that others should not have received it. Everyone wants to give an opinion to a gift that never belonged to them in the first place. This is what self absorption will do to you. Thankfully, God in his mercy always ensures His will is known and explained. That is where Paul and other apostles came in.
Paul used the example of Abraham to show the gentiles that Abraham did not receive the gift of Grace because he was circumcised; no, Abraham received the gift of Grace before he was even circumcised which goes to show that Abraham did not do anything to earn this gift but simply received it (Romans 4). Moreover, his fellow Jewish brothers including himself who believed also had to accept this gift of Grace and realize that the gift was not tied to their faithful obedience to the law of Moses. Indeed, Paul was a persecutor and a real enemy of Jesus Christ and his mission on earth. Yet, Grace found him, and he received it, realizing that he was a sinner in need of mercy. Grace has the capacity to stop us in our tracks and make us do a U-turn to the opposite direction against what we previously had in mind. It becomes clear then that, there is nothing we can do ourselves to be made right with God. If Jesus had not appeared to Paul, he would have continued in his tracks, the same goes for Abraham, had God not called him, he would have continued in his pagan ways. Therefore, the gift of Grace does not depend on how good or bad we are, it is all about God. As Romans 5 verse 8 says “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”. It is not after or when we were better that Christ died, but rather when we were still his enemies. Salvation is the Lord’s and it is by faith, so that no one can boast, it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:9).
So then, if God can bring his enemy to himself and reconcile with him, who are we to be angry at God for doing that? If God is willing to welcome in his arms those that spat on his face, then why should it trouble us as if we never ourselves did something despicable to Him? When a sinner accepts the gift of Grace, he changes masters, he goes from sin as his old master to God as his new master. As a new creation, under the Lordship of Jesus, the recipient of the gift of grace now follows his new masters’ (Jesus) law. Therefore, it is not our place to critique or question even because we are not the gift giver. I am reminded of the parable of the workers of the last hour who received the same salary as those of the first hour which was frowned upon by the workers of the first hour despite the fact that they had agreed to be paid the amount they were given (Matthew 20:1-16). The mistake that the workers of the first hour made was focusing on what the master had done in the lives of the workers of the last hour while comparing themselves with them. No wonder covetousness is not a fruit of the spirt, in fact God hates it. May we not be found focusing so much in the lives of others that we fail to see the good that God has done in their lives. May we instead be found rejoicing at what God has done in the lives of others so that our joy may be complete. May God strengthen us and be merciful to us as we seek to reflect him in everything that we do.
A Word Aptly Spoken 