From Hopscotch to Holiness

8 From Hopscotch To HolinessHopscotch Rules:How to win the game of hopscotch: Be the first to hop all theway through the grid.GRACE: a gift of God to humankind; in Christianity, the infinite love,mercy, favor and goodwill shown to humankind by God.Grace is a fundamental tenet of Christianity. Romans 3:23-24 states a keyunderstanding of our faith: “for all have sinned and fall short of the gloryof God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemptionthat came by Christ Jesus.” There is not another world religion likeChristianity that embraces the grace of God. Christianity teaches us thateverything we receive from God – salvation, provision, wisdom, the gift ofthe Holy Spirit, power to obey, forgiveness of sins etc. – is a result of God’sunmerited favor. We cannot earn grace; we do not deserve grace. ButGod freely gives us his grace out of his unconditional love for us. God’sgrace truly is amazing. 2 Peter 3:18 says: “But grow in the grace andknowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both nowand forever! Amen.” Why do we need to grow in grace? Good question.Grace must be received in order for us to walk in this truth. And that’sthe point at which we often need to grow. Especially in our self-centered,“I can do it myself” world, freely receiving salvation or any unmeritedfavor from the Lord often seems incongruous. After we receive Christ asour personal Savior, we still need to grow in many areas of our spirituallife. God freely gives us everything we need for life and godliness, but wemust learn how to receive each precious gift from the Lord. Many thingscan hinder our ability to receive God’s grace.