For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no-one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8‭-‬9 NIVUK

Earlier this year I was standing looking into my garden watching someone else cut my lawn.  I certainly wasn’t up to it, it definitely needed doing and by all accounts they did a far better job than me.  Of course I was grateful, but I couldn’t quite overcome the feeling of hurt pride.  It should be me doing that job!

Many of us like to think of ourselves as self-sufficient.  Not relying on others.  Not needing help.  That’s certainly me! There’s also this feeling that you’re putting people out or in some way we are indebted to them.  But, as I’m learning, the truth is people love to give freely with no obligation. No one can go through this for me, but people want to do what they can.

We have been greatly blessed with offers of help, support, messages, food, gifts and most importantly prayer.  It’s been a very humbling experience.  It’s challenged my default position of feeling self-sufficient and not needing others.

For me there’s possibly a bigger issue here: If God loves to freely give me gifts do I receive them with the same freedom or perhaps do I still feel I have to earn them. If this is true, then I’m not living fully in the grace of my salvation and I’m missing out on the greatest gift of all.  Grace is a freely given, undeserved favour made possible by the sacrifice of Jesus.  It’s a debt we can’t pay and no amount of effort or works on our part will ever get us close to making us right before God, and neither should it.  Our job is just to live in the truth of this.

People in my church family get this far better than me.  They give so graciously and so freely, asking nothing in return. It’s part of who they are.  Thank you all for being such a great example of this.   I have learnt so much from your generosity.

Grace is not just a gift given to us (although this is amazing in itself).  It is also everything we need when we are struggling.  Not only that our very weaknesses are made perfect through the power of God’s grace
But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9 NIVUK

Grace is at the heart of our faith and is something we can all press into in far greater measure.  The truth is it should be part of our DNA.  Both individually and as church.  As God freely gives to us, we freely give to others.