It’s been a very Chris Tomlin weekend. His music has been everywhere - church, in the car… I even built off one of his guitar riffs for a recent song. It’s not that I want to get away from his music, or anything. It was actually one of those songs that got me thinking about a common concept of Christianity.

Grace. What is it exactly? The secular world defines grace as a beauty and poise. This word emerged in early Greece as the name of one of three mythological sisters who posessed beauty and poise. Though the early works of the New Testament were written in Greek, remember that the writers were of the Jewish culture, so their meaning may not have translated perfectly into the Greek verbage.

When Paul and others talk about Grace in the Bible, they refer to:

Divine grace is a Christian term for gifts granted to humanity by God, that God is under no need or obligation to grant. Most broadly, grace describes all of God’s gifts to humankind, including our life, creation, and salvation, which God gives to us freely. More narrowly but more commonly, grace describes the means by which humans are saved from original sin and granted salvation source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_(religion)

I heard grace described as thus at church recently:

Grace is God giving you what you don’t deserve. Salvation is not getting what you do.

I think I messed the last part of that up, but hopefully you get the point. This post is for newer Christians who hear us use the Christian catch-phrases like grace, faith, etc. without explaining.

Chris Tomlin’s song , says “Your Grace is Enough… for me”

Looking at it in the light of the Greek (or secular) definition, it leads new Christians to believe that God’s grace is this type of poise we walk around with. When people are sincerely following God, they do often have this intangible quality about them, but it is rarely experienced by the one posessing it. Usually that person (you or I) feels like they are just bumbling along, save for the moments where we perceive the fruit with our human senses. Fortunately, God gives us more meaning to words and to life in general, so we are not hanging our hat on fickle “feelings.”

Looking at the lyric with the Christian definition, it makes more sense in the context of everything else Jesus Christ shared throughout his earthly ministry. What Chris is saying, is that I may want X, and think I deserve Y. Maybe I’ll receive it, and maybe I won’t. For now though, I am going to look at all the blessings you have given me that I have not deserved.

Categories: Living for Christ
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