"I entrust you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified." -- Acts 20:32

Ever wonder about grace? No, I mean really wonder! We Christians toss that word around like it was a piece of licorice. We can make acrostics out of it. Or maybe slogans, or add it to the names of our churches. Or we can simply talk endlessly about it.

In the secular mind it may be something etheral, mystical, even beautiful and serene. Or simply a “Bible word,” something religious people talk about. Or maybe something religious people mumble before eating. Especially in restaurants. I mean we Christians really should be a ‘witness.’

It seems there are a thousand ways in which the word, grace, is understood.

For the sake of this piece, I am going to forego the secular meanings, or even the jargon we believers are accustomed to using. I want to talk about what it meant to a guy who was certain he was going to die. That guy we know today as the ‘Apostle Paul.’ Utterly convinced that the Spirit of God had instructed him to go to Jerusalem, Paul was speaking to a local pastor’s conference. He told them that compared to teaching the people in Jerusalem about God’s grace, his life on this earth was nothing.

Nothing?

Paul, a guy who lived two thousand years ago who wrote at least thirteen books of the Bible and was the primary personality of the book of Acts. This is the guy whose life meant nothing?

So, one might conclude, this word, this concept, this reality called grace means something.

So, how does grace function in your life and mine? What does it do? Such a list of the achievements of grace might well be endless.

Is it even appropriate to speak in terms of the “achievements” of grace? Well, probably not, yet just for the sake of wrapping our limited brains around this subject, we may have to use such words.

Among the many things that grace "does," two stand out to me. Paul speaks of them in the passage above:

(1) The ability of grace to empower believers, and
(2) its inheritance, its existential dynamic impact on the life of those who believe.

Empowerment occurs in just about every form of human experience. Grace enhances intellect, stimulates physical strength, provides psychological clarity, enables verbal communication, emboldens courage and the ability to react in an emergency; and you better believe it, grace strengthens character.

But all of this is only peripheral. The kernel, the essential benefit of grace empowerment is spiritual. Grace enables spiritual dynamics to develop. This in my view, is its most critical and life-giving feature.

First, and likely most important, grace enables a nonbeliever to believe. This is when the Holy Spirit reveals the love of Jesus Christ to a person, and that person becomes what the apostle Paul calls “regenerated.” Meaning that the Holy Spirit performs a holy work in that person and that individual is reborn (born again) into the family of God. Such an experience is wholly and completely an act of God!

Grace gives us the power to reduce the level of sin Grace gives us a place to go. We often don’t understand why things happen the way they do. It challenges us, but He is there to walk us through it. Others don’t always understand the way God works in our lives. Sometimes it goes way beyond the structure of our faith, and He loves us through it.

Take Mary, for example. That day the angel told her that even as a virgin, she would become pregnant. Talk about a wild idea! Talk about shock! Yet Mary somehow found the grace to submit to the will of God and felt honored that he would choose her. All of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus reflect the beauty of God’s grace. It is, indeed, beautiful

The second feature of grace of which Paul addressed the local preachers and teachers of his day was "inheritance." This is a specific "dynamic impact" which brings to mind a passage from Hebrews. . .

"God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them." Hebrews 6:10

It is not entirely accurate to say that an "inheritance of grace" enables our service to God. Grace is not derived from our efforts. We are the recipients of grace . The inheritance of which our passage speaks as Paul noted, is an "inheritance among all who are sanctified."

This inheritance of grace springs from those whom we serve. It is the grace accorded to us by those we serve that is a most satisfying "inheritance" indeed!

It is clear from the Hebrews passage that God is appreciative as well.

Sometimes in Christian service, our motivations get all mixed up. We want to serve. We want to help. We want to be used by God. Yet, we also want to eat. We want to pay our rent. And yes, if we are honest, we like the honor, approbation, and applause that come from helping others.

But despite the confusion of our spiritual desires with our very human lusts, grace is the overcoming factor. God does not forget our service to him, despite our less than pure motives. And from this grace springs an eternal and continual inheritance.

Sometimes grace helps us to stand alone. It helps us to see what others cannot, and to know his love in the midst of it.

Grace gives us peace to live the human life as Christians -- without the struggle. It transcends the issues, the struggles of our own limitations. We are loved and accepted no matter what happens.

Grace lets us know that we don’t have to know. The peace of Jesus Christ only comes when we have a conscious understanding of grace.

Grace is a simple thing. It’s just wrapped up in love.