Do You Have Justified Grace?

When was the last time you received forgiveness from a person because of something you did that wasn't right? When was the last time you sought God for forgiveness for a mistake? When was the last time someone gave you grace for something that they could of been upset for?

Let me ask you, have you justified that grace? Read on to understand...

Ephesians 2:4-9 gives us a great glimpse into God and how he sees grace. Sometimes the favor of grace is unfair to some, it upsets settled humans notions about merit, about what is deserved. Think about the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15. His brother was so upset because why would his brother misuse his inheritance. Then you have another parable in Matthew 20 of a man who hires three guys, one early in the morning, one in the mid-afternoon and one late in the day, an hour before the bell. He then pays them all the same wages and of course the guys who have been there all day complain. The man applied grace and the others were jealous.

So what does this have to do with a justified grace? I have a sister who has been troubled since she was 13 around the time when she first ran away. She had a tough life that she chose, doing and using drugs, writing fraudulent checks, stealing from family members including myself, irreplaceable items. At the age of 22 my mom bought her a brand new surround sound system for her room. Did she deserve it? NO. Grace was applied. This would have been justified grace had my sister, who did not deserve it, made my mom thankful for giving it to her. Did she? No, she pawned it off for money to use for who knows what.

So how does our grace become justified? When God forgives us we justify it by living from that point on as if the sin never happened in the past, just-if-I'd (justified) never sinned in the first place. Not being held down by regrets but living in the continual state of 'potential'. Unjustified grace is when we receive it and act like we never did. Romans 6:1-2 says, "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?"

In life application... you talk behind someone's back and ask for forgiveness, then they forgive you, then you go on and talk behind their back again. Be a trophy of Grace, something God can be proud of, one to put in the display case. As Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. He was the 'worst of sinners' but through his Justified Grace became a trophy of grace.

Do You Have Justified Grace?