The two terms are tossed around quite freely by both preacher and teacher in modern-day Christianity.  But what do they really mean?  And how do they affect us? Let’s first look at the definitions given by Dictionary.com:

grace – favor or good will     (NOTE:  Dictionary.com also defines grace as mercy.)

mercy – compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender or enemy.

From teen-hood I was taught that grace was God giving us good things we don’t deserve, and mercy was God not giving us the punishment that we do deserve.  In the gospel scenario God shows us “mercy” by allowing his son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins.  We are told that our disobedience to God (our sin) separates us from Him, condemning us to eternal torture in Hell.  Because he loves us, he gives us his “grace” by letting Christ take our place (not in Hell) as a once-and-for-all sacrifice that will, in the Old Testament tradition, turn away God’s wrath.  With this marvelous (?) method of salvation, God will remember our sins no more — even those we are yet to commit.  Sweet deal, right?

The only redeeming ticket that will get you this grace is to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and make him Lord of your life.  And you have to really, really mean it, or many will assume that your salvation wasn’t genuine or, as my dad used to say, “It didn’t take the first time.”  There are some believers (actually more than we might think) who, after many years, begin to live like the Devil again, and you would never know that they were “saved.”  They are either backsliders (salvation still good; they just need to be disciplined and brought back into the fold) or “it didn’t take the first time.”

Well, here I go.  Newsflash!  Jesus never spoke the word “grace,” and he never specifically addressed the accepted plan of salvation that would bring us God’s grace.

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