Recently, a member of my church family told me her son was involved in a serious head-on auto accident. His car caught on fire while he was in it, and several people helped pull him away before it exploded. The car was totaled, but her son suffered only minor injuries and was back to a healthy condition in a few weeks. Another incident involved a friend of mine who was driving in rather harsh, rainy, and windy weather conditions and had a severe accident. Regrettably, he swerved into a young boy who was running along the side of the road. My friend’s car was totaled, and he only received minor injuries. The young boy suffered a broken kneecap and a considerable loss of blood, necessitating surgery. The alleluia ending to this scenario is that the surgery was a success, and according to the doctors, the young boy will make a full recovery and walk again. Both of these stories have one thing in common—they could have had completely negative results, but instead, they ended with thanksgiving and hope. I can hear some of you saying as you read these short stories, “They were really lucky.” But honestly speaking, these endings had nothing to do with luck, which is defined as "good fortunate by chance, or success or failure brought by chance rather than through one’s own actions."¹ The accurate description of these events is Godly Grace. Godly grace does not embrace random outcomes. Grace is a word frequently spoken among Christians. However, only occasionally is it used outside of these settings. There is a simple explanation for this. Generally speaking, mankind seems to think of himself as functioning independently, without the need for any divine intervention. Even those who claim to be devoted to their faith sometimes fall short in recognizing that our human existence is based on the unmerited, undeserved favor (grace), mercy, and love of God. To further illustrate this word grace, there are a few events in the Bible that chronicle this word:
Here are some remembrances of a few of the modern-day events that involve grace:
Some of your personal experiences of grace may have been on the freeway where you had near-miss accidents, or you passed an exam you thought you failed. Your pet recovered when you were told there was no hope of it surviving, or you met someone who could help you resolve a problem. Maybe you received an unexpected job offer or salvaged a business deal you were certain was lost. My personal experience was being unemployed and going to my mailbox to find an envelope containing $500.00. When you experience grace/favor from a person(s), naturally, your instinct is to extend gratefulness to that individual(s) for their actions. On the other hand, when you receive grace from God it is continuous, active and powerful. It wakes you up every day, gives you the strength to get out of bed, reminds you not to forget to put on clothes, and allows you to breathe the air and keep living despite our polluted environment. Far too often, we take these for granted and forget to thank Him. Grace is getting something that not only did you not expect, but also is receiving something you did not deserve. It is more than a chance coincidence. You cannot spin a roulette wheel, shuffle a deck of cards or buy a lottery ticket to make it happen. It is a divine gift that repeats God’s unfathomable love for his creations. We should all develop the habit of being grateful for daily grace. ¹www.dictionary.com > browse > luck; www.lexico.com > definition > luck
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