Grace is the love of God shown to the unlovely; the peace of God given to the restless; the unmerited favor of God.

We experience God's grace because God is gracious. In Exodus 34:6, when God is showing himself to Moses, we read "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness." Gracious is used here as an adjective describing God. It is one of his attributes.

Gracious, the Hebrew word channun, in its verb form means to be considerate, to show favor. That God is gracious would mean that he is favorably inclined toward us. That he wants to show favor to us. To do what is best for us.

God is gracious. Graciousness is not something that he puts on and takes off depending on the situation. He is always gracious. He does not decide to show us grace. Rather it is just who he is. Because he is gracious he demonstrates grace in everything he does.

Christians live every day by the grace of God. We receive forgiveness according to the riches of God’s grace, and grace drives our sanctification. Paul tells us, “the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives” (Titus 2:11). Spiritual growth doesn’t happen overnight; we “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 2:18). Grace transforms our desires, motivations, and behavior.

In fact, God’s grace grounds and empowers everything in the Christian life.

Why would God Give Us His Grace?

God knows we are sinners. He knows we mess up. He wants us to live obedient lives but knows that we will never be able to do that on our own. Even so, He still wants a relationship with us.

So Jesus came to earth, lived a perfect life, and died a sacrificial death on a cross. All we need to do is believe that is the truth and we will be “washed clean” by Jesus’ blood. When God, the Father, looks at anyone who believes in Jesus, His son, He sees them as forgiven and pure, and they can be in relationship with Him.

What does grace look like?

Picture this:  You are standing before a judge who has a huge list of all the crimes you have committed that are punishable by death. However, there is someone in the crowd who promises to take your punishment of death, and you will be given their clean slate. That results in getting something you don’t deserve. And that is what Jesus did for you. But just as you would need to ACCEPT the clean slate in court which you didn’t earn, you need to believe in and receive this same gift from Jesus.