Grace: More Than We Deserve Greater Than We Imagine



What is grace?  We sing about it in the hymn Amazing Grace.  We talk about it in our churches, but do we understand it?  Describing Grace in a way only Lucado can, "This book asks a deeper question: Have you been changed by grace?  Shaped by grace?  Strengthened by grace?  Emboldened by grace?  Softened by grace?  Snatched by the nape of your neck and shaken to your senses by grace?  God's grace has a drenching about it.  A wildness about it.  A white-water, riptide, turn-you-upside-downess about it.  Grace comes after you.  It rewires you.  From insecure to God secure.  From regret-riddles to better-because-of-it.  From afraid-to-do to ready-to-fly.  Grace is the voice that calls us to change and then gives us the power to pull it off.  When grace happens, we receive not a nice compliment from God but a new heart...You might call it a spiritual heart transplant."

I always come away from Max Lucado's books wanting more.  Grace was no different.  I sat down to read this book and didn't want to put it down.  Lucado gives example after example of ways God has showered His grace upon people from the harlot who would be stoned to modern day ordinary people just like you and me.  He uses examples from his own life, brave confessions of his weaknesses, and his need for grace.  We all need God's grace.  If we didn't, Jesus wouldn't have borne our sin and taken our place on the cross.  Ephesians 2:8 "You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God."

"This is a gift that God gives.  A grace that grants us first the power to receive love and then the power to give it.  A grace that changes us, shapes us, and leads us to a life that is eternally altered." (Lucado page 150)

This book was a blessing to me and I highly recommend it as I know it will bless your life as well.  We all stand in need of God's life changing, life saving grace.  May we be open to accept that grace and ask for God to use us as an instrument to show others grace as well.

I received a complimentary copy of this book, courtesy of BookSneeze and Thomas Nelson, for the purpose of review on this blog. All opinions expressed are my own, and I have not been compensated in any other manner