Today we continue our series entitled “Living the Grace Life,” where we will learn to embrace and walk in God’s unmerited, unearned, and often undeserved favor throughout 2025.
Key scriptures for this year:
2 Corinthians? ?9?:?8? ?TPT??
“Yes, God is more than ready to overwhelm you with every form of grace, so that you will have more than enough of everything —every moment and in every way. He will make you overflow with abundance in every good thing you do.”
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??Galatians? ?5?:?4? ?TPT??
“If you want to be made right with God by fulfilling the obligations of the law, you have cut off more than your flesh—you have cut yourselves off from Christ and have fallen away from the revelation of grace!”
Romans? ?6?:?14? ?ERV??
“Sin will not be your master, because you are not under law. You now live under God’s grace.”
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1 Corinthians? ?15?:?10? ?CEV??
“But God treated me with undeserved grace! He made me what I am, and his grace wasn’t wasted. I worked much harder than any of the other apostles, although it was really God’s grace at work and not me.”
Additional scriptures for today:
John 1:14 NKJV
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:17 NKJV
“For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
Setting the stage:
As we continue our journey of understanding grace, there’s no better example to study than Jesus Himself. He wasn’t just a teacher of grace – He was grace personified. Jesus perfectly demonstrated what living in the balance of grace and truth means. While He would be completely justified in condemning sinners (since He was the only one who never sinned), Jesus chose to extend grace instead. Further, He was God in the flesh, showing us how divinity and humanity could be synchronized perfectly. This wasn’t just theory – Jesus showed us what grace looks like in action.
While religious leaders of His day emphasized rules without relationship and truth without love, Jesus showed us how to be full of both grace and truth. When you study the life of Jesus, you see that every encounter He had with people was saturated with grace. Whether it was a woman caught in adultery, a tax collector in a tree, or a woman who had been divorced five times, Jesus consistently demonstrated grace that transformed lives. His example teaches us how to be vessels of God’s grace while standing firmly on God’s truth. And since He said, “As the Father sent me, so I send you” (John 20:21), we are called to extend the same grace to others that He extended to us.
So, what does this mean to you today? A few things:
1. Grace Must Be Our Lens for Understanding Truth.
John 8:11 NKJV
And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
You have to remember that Jesus was a Jew (an Israelite) who was called to the Jews. Therefore, He interacted with people who were focused on The Law every day. In that context, you can see how Jesus’ message and actions of grace were revolutionary. Let’s use the woman caught in the very act of adultery as an example. Instead of seeing her through the lens of condemnation like the religious leaders who brought her to Jesus, He saw her through the lens of grace. And instead of agreeing with the religious leaders, who wanted her stoned, He asked them to consider how sinful they were. Jesus’ response shows us that grace doesn’t ignore sin, but it offers a way forward from sin.
How this applies to you:
— Christian YouTube is a mess today. There are countless channels run by Christians that are dedicated to pointing fingers at other Christians.
— You should study the Word of God to become more gracious, not more judgmental.
— God’s truth should make you humble, not proud. A grace-based person reads the Word and sees how far they are from God’s standard, causing them to humble themselves before God. Rules-based people read the Word and somehow convince themselves that they are right and everyone else is wrong, filling their hearts with pride and their interactions with contempt.
— Your knowledge of the Word should lead to greater grace. The closer you get to God, the less you think of yourself. Unfortunately, Law-minded Christians read the Word to feel better about themselves and to get ammunition to fuel their arguments as they attempt to tell people how wrong they are.
— Truth without grace becomes legalism.
— Grace without truth becomes a license to sin.
— Balance, like Jesus had, is the key.
— The Word should make you more like Jesus, not like the Pharisees in our text.
— Jesus showed us that grace can acknowledge sin without condemning the sinner!
— Grace offers people a fresh start, just like Jesus did.
— When you extend grace like Jesus did, people receive power to “go and sin no more.”
— Jesus’ grace gave her a future when others only saw her past.
2. Grace Changes How You See People.
When Jesus encountered the woman caught in adultery, He demonstrated how grace affects our view of others. While everyone else saw categories of “righteous” (I’m right) and “unrighteous” (she’s wrong), all Jesus saw was a group of people who all needed grace (we are all wrong outside of Jesus).
How this applies to you:
— While The Law causes you to focus on people’s performance and highlights failures, grace helps you see beyond people’s failures into the future God called them to walk in.
— Everyone needs grace, including those judging others. Jesus did not just extend grace to the woman caught in adultery (in the text). If you think about it, Jesus extended grace to the accusers as well.
— Your role is to extend grace, not render judgment.
— You can take a stand for truth while, at the same time, being gracious towards those who are violating it.
— When you learn grace and truth from Jesus, you can share the truth and keep God’s standard, His standard, while at the same time seeing people the way God sees them and helping to usher them into their future. Free from sin and condemnation.
— Your attitude toward others reveals your understanding of grace. If you meet a Christian who is very judgmental, they are exposing to you that they don’t know God or His grace initially. Because you can’t be close to God and look down on His people.
— John basically said, “Don’t tell me that you love a God you cannot see, if you can’t stand the people you see every day.” That’s the RPV (Rick Piña Version). Here is the NIV of 1 John 4:20: “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.”
3. Grace Must Flow Through Your Actions.
(Luke 19:10 NKJV)
“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Jesus didn’t wait for people to come to Him – He actively sought them out to extend grace. Whether it was Zacchaeus in a tree or the woman at the well, Jesus demonstrated grace through intentional action.
How this applies to you:
— Grace must be demonstrated, not just discussed.
— Your actions speak louder than your words.
— If you want to be like Jesus, show grace to those society rejects.
— Grace-minded Christians attempt to love people to transformation (love the hell right out of them). Rules-minded Christians condemn people and drive them to isolation.
— Grace can reach people that judgment never will.
— Let your life be a demonstration of God’s grace everywhere you go.
— Actions of grace often open doors for truth. Once people know you care, they will open their hearts to hear the truth.
— Grace moves toward people, not away from them, and it draws them to God and not from Him.
— Grace flowing through you will cause you to work harder than ever before, but it won’t be you doing it. This is another way you can demonstrate God’s grace and witness to the world.
— When you demonstrate grace, you become a human conduit of the divine, just like Jesus was. This shows up in acts of love and mercy, and it also shows up in discipline and excellence.
— Your actions of grace might be someone’s only encounter with Jesus today.
4. Grace Makes Room for Transformation.
(John 4:29,39 NKJV)
“Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?… And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman”
The Samaritan woman whom Jesus met at the well had an encounter with Jesus and grace. She was at the well at high-noon because she was an outcast. No one in town liked her. She had been divorced five times, and she was living with a man who was not her husband. She could not get water when all the other women did. She was judged and ostracized. Jesus acknowledged her past, but He gave her a picture of her future. Jesus’ approach shows us how grace creates space for genuine transformation. This woman turned around and PREACHED about her encounter with Jesus and grace. Jesus’ grace didn’t just change her life; it transformed her entire city.
How this applies to you:
— Grace provides space for people to grow.
— Grace focuses on heart change before behavior change.
— Let God’s love lead people to repentance. When they know how much God loves them, and they receive the love of God in their hearts, they will want to serve Him out of love, not rules. Their transformation will be genuine and powerful because it won’t come from their HEAD, which is focused on rules. It will come from the HEART, receiving God’s grace.
— The grace you extend to someone may lead to their first step toward God.
— Create an atmosphere where people feel safe to change without being condemned by mistakes because we all make mistakes.
— Trust grace to do what condemnation never could.
— Remember that grace transformed you too. You are who you are by the grace of God.
— Grace can transform not just individuals but entire communities.
— Jesus’ grace turned a social outcast into a city evangelist.
— When you extend grace like Jesus did, you create space for miracles.
— Real transformation happens in an atmosphere of grace.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for showing me what grace looks like through the life of Jesus.
I declare that I will view Your Word and Your truth through the lens of Your grace.
I choose to see others as Jesus sees them, looking past their faults to see their needs.
I create an atmosphere of grace where people can experience real transformation.
I balance truth and grace, never compromising either one.
Your grace flows freely through me to touch others with Your love.
I am a conduit of Your grace in this world, just as Jesus was.
Living this way, I know GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!
I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and prosper!
