We have two in our congregation who are named “Grace.” One is a college student and the other is in elementary school. “Grace” is a beautiful name and a beautiful concept. You might say in the Bible, it pictures the unconditional love of God.
It is true that God’s love is not based on what we do, but rather it is based on who we are. We are His by His divine act of creation. When John states that “God so loved the world that He gave His only unique Son” (John 3:16), he is sharing with us the love God has for everyone who is born into this world.
And God extends His grace in salvation to everyone who is born as well. To say that God’s love is unconditional is not the same thing as to say God’s salvation is unconditional. We still have to choose Him. We still have to choose His way. When you meditate on the “plan of salvation,” you see that it is our choice that is operative at every step of the way.
We choose to listen to God’s word with humility. We choose to trust God’s word implicitly. We choose to repent completely. We choose to confess our faith loudly. We choose to submit to immersion in water for the forgiveness of our sins reverently. To say we are saved by grace does not negate the fact that we have to choose to respond to God’s call to salvation.
We can choose to respond either with defiant disobedience or we can choose to respond with thankful obedience.
In Romans 6:15-16, the Holy Spirit says, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?”
Paul Holland
