What Really is Grace?

Since my experience last month, I have been pondering the meaning of grace. Does it have just one definition? Or does it mean different things in different contexts? With different people? With myself? Grace seems like it can have a wide variety of meanings.

I remember first learning about grace in AWANA. I remember defining grace as "God giving me a free gift I don't deserve." John Piper (2012), in his book The Purifying Power of Living by Faith in Future Grace, writes that "grace pays debts." Grace is free. Faith in future grace is faith that helps conquer temptation and sin, now and in the present. Max Lucado (2014) writes that grace is a source of generosity. He writes that grace is what secures believers' relationships to God. Theologians write of common grace, prevenient grace, justifying grace, sanctifying grace, glorifying grace, and more (Goddard, n.d.). It's a little dizzying.

What really is grace? The conclusion I have at the moment it is not getting what I deserve. Having grace is not exacting from people (or self) what I think it is expected or demanded. It is soft. It is kind. It is associated with all kind of moral virtues.

I haven't really quite figured all of it out. Maybe I won't. Maybe that's good, because not knowing what grace is means I have to keep giving and receiving grace in order to learn more about it. Maybe it's good because grace is greater than me. It is larger than me, and comes from someone larger than me. What really is grace? I don't know, but I do know God, and I rest assured that He knows all.

References:

Goddard, E. (n.d.). Types of grace. Pray with Confidence. https://praywithconfidence.com/types-of-grace/

Lucado, M. (2014). Grace: More than we deserve, greater than we imagine. Thomas Nelson.

Piper, J. (2009). The Purifying Power of Living by Faith in Future Grace. The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group.