Forgiveness: The Grace Gift of God

A gift received that cannot ever be earned.

A gift when received that elicits unfathomable gratitude.

A gift freely given in the spirit of delight,

not in any way begrudgingly given.

A gift given by the Holy All-Benevolent One.

A gift given by the only qualified One to give it.

A gift proved of more worth than any,

or any amount of, material thing.

A gift of value beyond comparison to every other gift.

A gift that has supreme worth.

A gift of eternal worth.

GRACE GIFT – COMPREHENSIBLE AND INCOMPREHENSIBLE

Having contemplated the nature of this grace gift, we have barely scratched the surface in terms of what makes us marvel. The grace gift expands our awareness of gratitude the more we attempt to plumb its inexorable depths.

That’s the miracle of the love of our redeeming God, right there.

The grace gift is always MORE.

That’s right, the more audaciously we seek to fully understand the copiousness of the grace gift’s cavernous realms, the more grace will astound us in shock and awe for what it truly is—the greatness and the goodness of God, utterly beyond human understanding.

The more we dig deeply to mine the caverns of the grace gift, the more our faith is nurtured in thankfulness for what God alone has done—and, indeed,does AND is, in and through the grace gift.

And yet, though it is beyond our understanding to plumb the depths of it—grace, such a pithy word for something so awesome—we are given access to drill blessed depths to expand our knowledge and thankfulness.

GRACE GIFT AND FORGIVENESS

The unadulterated purity in authentic acts of forgiveness is akin to this grace gift.

Forgiveness is a fruit of the grace gift.

Just as it is incomprehensible to truly understand grace, there is something in pure forgiveness that is inexplicable—especially for the person forgiving and for the person being forgiven.

These relational moments ascend to the heavens, transcending joys available more commonly on earth. This is because persons must become ‘other’ than themselves to extend or partake of the grace gift in “on earth as it is in heaven” moments only Christians enjoy.

Indeed, the grace gift need neither be explained nor be fully understood, just accepted, and that is under the plain terms of faith.

Grace is something we can only be grateful to receive and to extend to someone like us, who cannot deserve the gift we give. But we give it anyway, for like God’s grace, many varietals of forgiveness cannot ever be deserved.

The act of forgiving someone when we don’t need to, is the essence of freedom itself.

Such an act of grace-gift justice—yes, the grace of letting go—brings healing and peace.

GRACE GIFT – WHAT IS THIS FREEDOM?

The fact is this. As a humanity, we are all supposed to partake in this gift that God has sought to give us in that we have been given real and true freedom. Many people wonder what real and true freedom is like. It is a feeling chock-full with healing. Indeed, it is that healed state so many of us seek all our lives to receive.

To be able to give this grace gift is in the same accord as being able to receive it.

We can add nothing to it, and indeed, that is the point, for it is only in losing ourselves that we can gain this thing that we can have no part in otherwise. This is like the concept of surrender. It is only when we agree that we have nothing to add, nothing of value to give, that we stand worthily enough to receive. We must be empty-handed and open-hearted.

A human being who brings nothing to a moment stands to receive everything they need. They are an empty vessel and in that accord, are perfectly positioned to receive, which is to be filled, with a message, with acceptance, with love, with grace that embodies the gift.

This is precisely in keeping with Jesus, who went to the cross and was silent like a sheep before its slaughterer. Had Jesus decided to add anything to his death, it would’ve taken something away from it.

It is just like John the Baptist said, “He must become greater, I must become less.” (John 3:30)

We must live in ways of giving up what we cannot keep to gain what we cannot lose.

It is an utter paradox to enjoy such freedom because we cannot grab it, and we can only receive it by faith by agreeing beforehand to be empty-handed and open-hearted.

We are to bring nothing of ourselves before the throne of God. And this is the hard thing for us, human beings, because our default is to add something to it, because surely SOMETHING must be expected of us.

Well, no, nothing is expected other than to be N O T H I N G before God.

GRACE GIFT – FREEDOM EVIDENCED IN HEALING

The sign of freedom is the evidence of our healing in that we can acceptably and even joyously partake in life in empty-handed and openhearted ways.

This freedom of living in a healed state is not something that can be faked.

It takes peace to live in this freedom, which only comes from being truly healed. In other words, we can only partake in this freedom, which is to receive and give this grace gift, if we truly carry about us this healing, which is a peace of not needing a single thing—that we might add.

We know a person has experienced healing by the peace that they have, that they exude and that they give to others they are in relationship with. We also know when a person hasn’t experienced healing by the anxiety they carry, that they exude, that they give to others they are in relationship with. The worst of this is when people are in positions of leadership, and they portray something that they do not have, especially when they have an anxious-manipulative capacity about them. Such leaders are NOT safe.

Healed people exude peace. They transmit that peace—which is freedom—to others they are in relationship with.

Only God can give this grace gift—and it not only free but ever available—yet only a person can receive it by adding nothing of themselves, and accepting it wholeheartedly, what God alone has done and is giving that cannot be given otherwise.

Part of the evidence that a person has received this grace gift is they accept no credit for it. There is absolutely no pride to speak of, no boasting, NOTHING of the “look at how special I am.”

This is another paradox. Only the person who claims no credit, who sees themselves as “nothing special,” evidences the work of God in their receiving of this precious grace gift.

Pride is an odious thing in the realm of God. Pride completely annuls the power of God in a person. Pride is evidence of just how far a person is from the healing that would otherwise set them free.

GRACE GIFT – FREEDOM ALL ARE MEANT TO PARTAKE OF

All humanity is meant to live into this freedom that comes from accepting the grace gift of God. Those who refuse the gift have voiced just one of a myriad of varieties of resistance to being healed.

Those who are healed have nothing left to gain and nothing left to prove.

Those who are healed stand as the testimony of God of how loving and how free humanity should be.

Those who are healed threaten no one and are a threat to no one.

The very best relationships we have are with people who exemplify this grace gift in their lives. They have the capacity of love and forgiveness and do not assert themselves over others, as if they were on a mission to steal, kill, and destroy another they could otherwise simply relate with as an equal.

The very best of relationships we can have with people are those where we are equals with one another before God, much as it should be. This is the freedom to which we are each called. To simply exist with one another, in freedom and in peace, and if I could put it another way, in safety. Where there is no malevolent coercion whatsoever.

Forgiveness, the grace of God, is the most gorgeous reality over the face of the Earth, in our and all living times, and within the realm of eternity.

This grace gift that God has poured out generously over humankind, from eternity to eternity—through Christ our Lord, Saviour, and King—where NONE are barred from it, is also a grace gift that promises to GIVE even as we live in it and thereby receive.

As Christians, we have access to this grace gift, but we can only live in it when we add nothing of ourselves to it. This can seem hard, but in fact, it is the easiest thing in the world, but it does require us to live in, or practice, a healed state.

We are not merely saved for heaven, as if we could even undermine such a beautiful concept.We are saved also for life on earth, by LIVING this grace gift that was given two millennia ago.

We must habitually give up what we cannot keep to gain what we cannot lose.

This, indeed, is the secret to Christian life—less of us, more of God.

“Undeserved favor,” i.e., the grace gift, can only be received and lived into when we believe and therefore act, as if the gift continues to be undeserved.

This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Tribework