Grace Is Only Free To The One Who Receives It

Perhaps it’s because my youngest has been doing a lot of cooking lately. I’ve been cleaning up his messes. Cleaning up dishes does give one time to think. It’s not exactly mentally strenuous, so my brain wanders. It’s good for him to learn to cook and enjoy it. Part of that process is giving him the freedom to make a mess while he learns.

From a parenting perspective, I want him to know that he must, ultimately, be able to clean up after himself. Cleaning up is part of the process and it’s necessary for him to do it. However, I don’t want him to focus so much on the unpleasant part first that he doesn’t want to learn.

Then again, perhaps it’s because we’re in the middle of Lent, a special time on the Christian calendar leading up to Easter. It commemorates the 40 days Jesus spent fasting and praying in the desert before He began his public ministry. Many people choose to mimic that and give up something. Others just give that time special reflective attention to prepare their own hearts for Easter.

This year I chose to do more feasting than fasting. I don’t mean with food. I just mean I have read more, studied more, prayed more, and in general tried to deliberately be in communion with God more. I’ve been trying to consume and understand better. To feast on His presence. That has led me down some roads where I’ve just given more concentrated thought on topics than I normally would.

Maybe it’s both of those reasons, but one of those topics that my mind has dwelled on lately is grace. I don’t mean elegance and poise or what we say before a meal, I mean the amazing grace of God. The gift of grace. It is the divine love and favor that makes our salvation possible. Specifically, I’ve been thinking about how nothing is really free and that includes grace that God offers us. Oh, it’s free to us, but it was paid for. Jesus paid the price. Grace wasn’t free. It is a gift, but it isn’t free.

I thought about how that works in my own life. I can offer grace to my child or grace to the person who cut me off in traffic. It’s a free gift for them, but I pay the price. Someone always pays the cost. When I do the work of cleaning up my son’s mess, I pay the cost for the grace he receives. It’s my time and energy spent on the cleanup. That’s not an expensive one, but I think it’s a wonderful example.

If Jesus paid the price for us, should we not be willing to pay it for others? Not saving grace, that’s a job for Jesus only. But we can mirror the grace He gave to the woman caught in adultery. We can mirror the grace He gave to Peter, who betrayed Him. We live more like Christ when we are willing to be the one who pays the price.

This is how we’re supposed to live, mirroring the example of Jesus. Look at Ephesians 5:1-2, “Therefore be followers of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” (NKJV)

1 John 2:6 reaffirms that if we are Christians, we should follow His example. “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.”

To do that we need to not just offer grace but be willing to pay the price. Some circumstances don’t require us to pay, but we must be willing. When a fuse has been lit, are you willing to be the one who will pay the price to stop it? Will you choose to offer that kindness when someone has been unkind to you? Will you forgive when you’ve been wronged? Will you let someone have the credit you deserve?

None of us “deserve” the grace that Christ offers us and willingly paid for but most of us happily accept when it’s offered to us. When we’re on the receiving end, we’re all about grace. But are we as quick to give it as we are to take it? Are we willing to suffer, to accept the pain, to take on the hurt so that someone else doesn’t have to? It’s not so difficult to pay the price so that our child doesn’t have to, but what about the neighbor we’re supposed to love? What about the person proven guilty? The friend that hurt you? The waiter that got your order wrong? The person that was having a bad day and took it out on you? Are you good for the cost of grace?

I can’t answer these questions for you. I can’t always answer them for myself. But sometimes it’s worth the self-assessment to see if we’re being as Christ-like as we should be. Just a little something to think about and put into practice. Will you reflect Christ to a hurting world and foot the bill for someone’s grace today?