With Easter coming next week, we take time to remember and reflect what Jesus went through so that we could be reconciled to God. Colossians 1:21-22, “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.”

Prior to coming to Christ, we were not only alienated from God, but were declared His enemies. This really reaffirms Jesus words about “loving our enemies” doesn’t it? Romans tells us that “although we were enemies, Christ died for us. Amazing love, how can it be?

From this passage in Colossians, I really want us to focus on the last phrase. According to Paul here, we are “free from accusation.” Sometimes at wedding ceremonies, the person officiating the ceremony will ask if anyone has anything to say against either of the people getting married. They did this in order to make sure there were no issues that might hinder the marriage.

We are free from accusation because of Jesus. Does this describe how you see yourself? I know for me, that I am my worst critic. Maybe you are the same?
No matter what I am doing, I always have this nagging feeling I could’ve done it better.

This is especially true if you are a perfectionist. Do you often, in your mind after you sin, imagine finding yourself standing in God’s courtroom hearing Him say, “Guilty”? If this is true of you, then maybe you haven’t fully comprehended what grace is.

Now I do want to point out that sometimes this truth is easier to believe than live out. We not only have an enemy within, our sinful natures, but we have enemies outside of us, the world and the Devil. They work at pressing those buttons in our lives that cause us to doubt God’s love and grace in our lives.
Grace is God’s unmerited favour shown to an unworthy sinner.

We no longer have to measure up because Christ cleared the account on our behalf. He not only did that, but God also gave us His Spirit to live in us, to empower us to walk and live in grace. Jesus said, “I have come that you may have life and have it in the full.” That begins when we understand that we have been cleansed and redeemed.

But there is one aspect of reconciliation that we also need to understand and practice. Grace is not only to be received by us, in a sense it is to be extended to others.

I say in a sense because our relationship with God is different than the relationship we have with one another. He is the absolute Judge and Sovereign Ruler of the universe. We are all still sinners and are on an equal plane with each other. We can’t give out grace as God does but we can relate to one another as one’s who have received grace and ones who desire to live their lives on those principles.

Learning to extend grace is life changing. How? Holding anger and bitterness is like carrying a backpack filled with rocks on our backs all the time. It is a burden and prevents us from enjoying and experiencing life as we should.

The reality is, we cannot experience peace and joy in Christ if we are unwilling to extend grace to others. This was the point of the parable in Matthew 18 about the man who was forgiven a large amount of money. He was unwilling to forgive a fellow servant a small debt.

The person who is living by grace sees the contrast between what his own sins to God are and the offences to each other. He forgives because he has been forgiven. He realizes that by receiving God’s forgiveness through Christ. Because of that he has forfeited the right to be offended when others hurt him. He practices the words of Paul in Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

I’d like to end off with one of the clearest passages explaining God’s grace to us. Ephesians 2:1-5 is a declaration of the truth God showed to us through Christ Jesus: “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”

Grace in our culture is hard to understand and accept. We always hear, “there’s nothing free in life.” In this earthly life, that is probably true, but in our life in Christ we have experienced the amazing grace of God. It is free to those who respond to His call. It is a truth I think most of us know but in truth it takes a lifetime to fully understand.

As we meditate on Easter and continue to learn to grasp this truth, I want to encourage you with two things. Firstly, may we grant ourselves to allow God to work out the junk in our lives and secondly, may we offer others the same grace to allow God to continue the work He has begun in them.

When you think of the scope of our sin and God’s grace, it really is amazing. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost and now am found. Was blind but now I see.

I would encourage each of us to take this week and meditate on God’s wonderful grace shown to us in Christ. When we immerse ourselves in it, it will transform us to be graceful to ourselves and each other.