'How Do I Find Grace?'

An Essay by Julian James Crump, Contest Winner, Mt. Zion #2 CME Church, Hamilton, AL

Seeking grace is easy once you understand what grace is and what it means. Grace is “unmerited favor” for God (Ephesians 2:8-9). In theology, grace may be described as “enabling power sufficient for progression.” Grace divine is a gift from God for development, improvement, and character expansion, and without God’s grace, there are certain limitations, weaknesses, flaws, and faults that mankind cannot overcome.

As Christians, we believe it is important to increase in God’s grace for added perfection, completeness and flawlessness. More broadly divine grace refers to God’s gifts to all humankind, including life, creation, and salvation. More commonly, grace describes the means by which we are granted salvation (and to some, saved from original sin).

Grace is most important in the theology of Christianity, as well as one of the most important issues in Christian salvation. Grace is often different from mercy in that mercy is seen as not receiving punishment that one deserves to receive, whereas grace is the receipt of a positive benefit that one does not deserve to receive.

Divine grace also can be defined as God’s presence in our lives, enabling us to do and be what we were created for.

Finding spiritual growth and grace fit together. Some people do not understand grace and see it as the license to do what they want and still receive God’s favor. A true understanding of grace will lead to growth and stability.

God uses grace to carry out a process of growth in our lives, but it is not automatic. This is the reason why the number of years a person is a Christian has nothing to do with spiritual maturity. Real maturity comes by cooperating with God’s grace process. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

The ultimate force in salvation is God’s grace. Not material things; not houses, not our money or not our friends. Grace is God’s calming hand over a stormy sea of our lives. The church song that states, “…if our God is for us, who can be against us…,” is a great inspiration about grace. God is for us, not maybe, not has been, not was, not sometimes, but God is always for us. If God had MySpace, my name would be on top of his friends list. If he had a calendar, my birthday would be circled. God is for us, and know that, no one can be against you.

We all need grace. The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17 (NCV). Christ died so that I would have grace and mercy. Eternity is given by actions, but through grace the outcome may change, the grace God has blessed us with.

Grace is important because without it we would not allow Jesus to see us for all of our possibilities, rather than our shortcomings, affording us the possibility to live everlasting life in paradise without our Heavenly Father.

Photo: L-R: James Perkins, North Central Region director of Christian Education; Bishop L.L. Reddick, III, presiding bishop of the 5th Episcopal District; essay winner Julian J. Crump; Julian’s mother, Martha West-Crump; Presiding Elder of the Huntsville District Rev. Ollie Hatchett; Rev. Zethelyn Johnson, Rev. Charlie J. Johnson, Jr., pastor, Mt. Zion #2 CME, Hamilton, AL.