Grace - Undeserved Favor

For as long as i can remember, the word grace has stirred my soul.  During my younger days, I didn't really understand the full magnitude behind the meaning of the word.  I certainly didn't know how it applied to my relationship with God.  But, to merely hear the word grace had a tendency to soften me.  Philip Yancey wrote the book "What's So Amazing About Grace" that was devoted to the topic.  Within the book, he explained how the word grace was one of the few uncorrupted words in the english language.  He spoke about how grace resonates with other-worldliness.  He explains that, while justice seems right, grace has a supreme, other-world quality.  Grace is so big that it is troubling to think that I am to possess it.  Not only possess it but, I am to freely dispense it to others.

God is perfect.  God's justice is also perfect - he is the perfect judge.  As the creator and ruler of the universe, we would want him no other way.  A universe ruled by an imperfectly just God?  No thanks.  Within his perfectly just system, he placed grace.  Grace - that wonderful means for us to receive righteousness through Christ.  God's grace was the means through which the sacrifice of his son was accomplished.  Perfect justice will be achieved but, God's grace enables us to bear it!

So, where does my responsibility lay when it comes to grace?  I believe that it starts with me realizing that I am not God (yeah, a universe ruled by me would not be a pretty sight...I have a hard time picking a tie in the morning).  Since I am imperfect, I should not consider myself more capable than God in determining who should receive grace.  In other words, since God willingly displayed his grace on the cross for anyone willing to accept it, who am I to withhold grace from anyone?  Yancey also stated that God's grace is like water - it flows to the lowest part.  There is no one that is beyond God's redemption.  How can I rightly receive grace from God if I am not willing to freely dispense it to others...especially when I, an incredibly imperfect judge, don't believe that they deserve it?