ICS Daily Devotions
Understanding Grace

Luke 15:20-24 (NKJV) “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.Have you ever heaved a sigh of relief when the worst-case scenarios didn’t happen because someone extended grace to you?
Grace is unmerited favour—something shown to us when we are not entitled to it or are worthy to receive it. Unfortunately, we live in a society that demands entitlement, and we often become aggressive when we don’t get what we perceive is due to us. In fact, we can become so immersed in this culture that we may not even think it’s wrong to behave this way.
As the story of the prodigal son unfolds, our hearts begin to ache for the father, who is a personification of grace here. Because grace is unmerited favour, it means there is nothing that we do, have done or not done, that can cause the person to love us more or to love us less. God loves us unconditionally, and His love and grace towards us has nothing to do with us, but everything to do with His choice of extending it to us. While it may sound simple and natural to extend grace to our children, it is often easier said than done because we have emotions. Therefore, we need to deal with the flesh to prevent us from retaliating in words or deeds when something negative happens. In fact, it is unnatural to extend grace, which is why we need to learn from the father in this parable, and to choose to extend grace as we model our lives after Christ.
However, we won’t be able to extend grace to others until we have fully grasped the unmerited favour of God, and we won’t be able to love others like God does until we have understood the love of God with our hearts. In other words, we won’t be able to do unto others as we want others to do unto us until we have understood His grace for us. In fact, many of us will profess that we understand the grace of God, but we won’t really know if we do until the situation warrants us to extend it. Truly understanding the grace of God is the key to living out our lives differently.
Sermon Series: Extending Grace