Branch On The Vine

By: Alli Matthews

Before I understood what God’s grace entails, I often thought of grace as beauty or elegance. The image that popped into my mind was a graceful ballerina in a white tutu balancing effortlessly on the tips of her toes. 

I was confronted with my misunderstanding of God’s grace during my freshman year of college when my friends, Arianna and Annika, were explaining Ephesians 2:8-9 which states, “It is by grace you have been saved through faith– and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.” When they asked me how to define grace I think I said something along the lines of beauty. 

They told me God’s grace is actually more like a gift that we don’t deserve. This opened my eyes to the vastness of God’s love. It’s a love that we couldn’t do anything to earn. No amount of good works or loving people or Bible-reading or church-going could earn God’s love. He gives it to us freely.

A comparison to this is becoming a parent. Babies cannot do anything by their own physical effort to earn love. In fact, they make messes and create a ton of work for their parents. Yet parents choose to love their babies so dearly. 

(Sadly, that is not always the case because we live in a broken world, but I hope this example paints at least a glimpse of a picture of God’s grace in your mind.)

Therefore, being saved by grace means that God gives us salvation as a gift. It means we cannot earn our salvation. It means we can’t do anything to deserve our salvation. 

Salvation is a gift that God gives us when we put our faith in Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Savior.

Yes, putting our faith in Jesus is doing something, but it is not a means in which we earn salvation. Rather, it is a gift from God. This takes us back to John 3:16 which says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God reached out to us. We did not work our way up to him.

So now that you know what God’s grace is, how can we open our hearts and allow it to change our lives? Here are some Bible verses that talk about how grace impacts us as followers of Jesus. 

God’s grace set us free from sin.

For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

Romans 6:14

This verse is declaring that because of grace in Christ, we have been set free from sin. We are no longer slaves to sin. By putting our faith in Jesus, we are free to live in obedience to him. 

The law, A.K.A. the ten commandments and Leviticus, is not bad. It simply shows us our need for God because on our own, we are unable to meet those standards. We need to invite Jesus into our hearts and lives to allow him to free us from sin. 

To clarify, this verse is not saying that we are free to sin because we are living under grace. We can observe that by reading the verse that comes right before it: “Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.” (Romans 6:13).

Not being under the law means that we are set free from legalism. Legalism is depending on moral rules to earn favor with God. Pastor Steve Benninger from our church in Ohio calls this the “performance plan.” Examples include trying to earn God’s favor through church attendance, the way you dress, the way you treat people, the way you eat, or any other action. This plan is bound to lead to stress and striving, not to salvation. As I said previously, you cannot earn God’s love or forgiveness or salvation.

However, the “grace plan” is accepting the gift of salvation by surrendering your life to Jesus Christ. It is living in obedience, not to earn anything, but, instead, you live in obedience out of gratitude and love for God. Because He loved you first.

Living under grace does not equal living in sin. 

I know I mentioned this earlier, but I feel the need to explain it more thoroughly.

Yes, we all have sinned and will sin and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23), but living under grace means living in Jesus’ freedom. This next passage explains this concept:

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

Titus 2:11-14

Jesus not only freed us from sin’s power over us, but he redeems us from all wickedness. I read a book in high school called The Kite Runner. (Don’t worry I won’t spoil it!) It is a great story, but I was disappointed in the ending because it was supposed to be a redemption story for the main character. He apparently “redeems himself” by doing this very generous act. 

This was frustrating to me because even though I was very young in my faith at that point, I understood that doing good works doesn’t make up for the bad things you do. Evil is still evil. For example, if Hitler gave one million dollars to charity before he died, that would not erase all of the horrendous crimes he committed. Doing something good doesn’t erase the wrong you’ve done before. 

That is why the gift of redemption through Jesus is so amazing. Through him, we are forgiven of our sins. He makes us new, as if we had never sinned at all, not because of the good things we have done but because of his love and grace. 

God’s grace gives us strength.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Here Paul is talking about how he asked God to take away a struggle in his life and is reflecting on the Lord’s response to him. He is saying that God’s grace is enough to cover our weaknesses and struggles. Therefore, we can rejoice and even boast in them because they show the greatness of God’s strength. 

An example from my life is my struggle with worry. I have had seasons of crippling anxiety. It often took me weeks or even months, but I found that the only way I could overcome the constant weight of worry was to rely on God’s strength and grace.

To be honest with you, I’m still working on boasting about my weaknesses and still working on overcoming anxiety through God’s strength. I still carry way too much fear about what people think of me.

But that is where God’s grace comes in. Because his grace is sufficient for me, I can call on him when I’m stressing over something. I can rest in his peace, knowing that I am far from perfect and yet so dearly loved by my Heavenly Father. That is how his grace gives me strength. 

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, God’s grace is the love that he gives us even though we don’t deserve it. Because of God’s grace, we are set free from sin, we are redeemed, and we are made strong in him. 

If you struggle to believe these truths in your faith journey, I suggest you memorize these verses. Doing so has been super helpful for me throughout my own spiritual journey. Memorize one at a time, and watch your heart and mind be transformed by scripture.

Leave this post with confidence that God’s grace is big enough to cover all of your sins and make you new so that you can live in obedience to Jesus! 

The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 5:20-21