As I’ve been reading Psalms, the word “grace” keeps popping up. Then I remembered John 1:17, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Yet I find “grace” all over the Tenach (Old Testament). It isn’t like God starting being a God of grace with Jesus. No, God has always been a God of grace.
I asked a Jewish believer friend mine why I find the word “grace” in my Jewish translation of the Bible, but find the words “mercy”, “love” and “loving kindness” in other translations. For instance in Psalm 136:1, the translators use the word “love”, but the Jewish translators use “grace”. His answer to me was that any word other than “grace” is a mistranslation of the Hebrew word used in the Old Testament.
My fellow sojourners, our God has always been and always will be a God of grace! Yes the Law points us toward holiness. Yes, it points out our imperfections, drugs of choice. This should only drive us to the One who can make us holy, the God of grace who overcame our imperfections to give us a hand up! Yes the Bible teaches that we’re to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. In reaching this goal, however, we must rely upon God’s grace to get there.
God’s grace is telling us to relax on our journey to be more like Jesus! We don’t need to kick or beat ourselves up every time we blow it. This only drives us toward our drugs of choice. Get rid of your “beat me stick” and take hold of Jesus’ hand of grace to get up and get going again. I like what one author said, “Failure only counts if it’s your last attempt.” God’s grace keeps giving us another attempt at walking with and being like Him.

Set Free No“W”ww