Unwasted Grace: How to Make Much of the Life You’ve Been Given
The stir to find purpose in the ordinary hums from car lines and kitchen sinks stacked with dishes. Like a lullaby, it floats on the crispness of a turning-fall morning and the occasional yellow leaf landing on the driveway. How do we make much of the unmerited, unconstrained grace we’ve been given?
Unwasted grace. It was true of the Apostle Paul, and how I long for it to be true of me as well.
My finger rests on 1 Corinthians 15:1, which reads: “Today I am who I am because of God’s grace, and I have made sure that the grace He offered me has not been wasted” (The Voice).
If anyone knew himself as wildly underserving of God’s grace, it was Paul. He was an outright mocker of the way of life Jesus modeled. In fact, he terrorized those who followed Jesus, instigating arrests, imprisonments, and the stoning of Christians. He’s described as a “fuming, raging, hateful man who wanted to kill every last one of the Lord’s disciples” (Acts 9:1, The Voice).
As Paul humbly admits, “I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church” (1 Corinthians 15:9 NLT).
So how does such a man become one of the most noteworthy figures in Christianity?
Grace.
The same grace that meets us in all the places we feel unworthy. That pursues us before we’re ready to receive it. That beckons us to reorient our lives around the One who sees far more in us than we see in ourselves.
What Is Grace?
Grace is, at its core, a gift–God’s gift to us. It rattles our self-righteousness because it’s not capable of being earned. God saves us by giving us His Son, and we need only faith to stretch wide our own arms to receive it.
The Message paraphrases it like this: “Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish!” (Ephesians 2:8).
Grace is the plea from God’s very lips to soften our stubbornness, bend our pride, and simply receive what He gives. It’s an invitation to let go of the ways we try to better ourselves so God’s love can bring healing to the hidden corners of our hearts. And it’s inner work with an outward expression because grace always expands.
Grace is a trust equation: our nothing plus God’s everything equals ripple-effect redemption.
God’s grace, according to my friend Jennifer Sakata–and host of Living the Grace Life Podcast–“is that forward movement that restores connection and rebuilds relationships.” How perfectly this line summarizes 2 Corinthians 5:19!
It is central to our good news that God was in the Anointed making things right between Himself and the world. This means He does not hold their sins against them. But it also means He charges us to proclaim the message that heals and restores our broken relationships with God and each other.
There’s better up ahead—relational wholeness between God and us, us and others–and grace gets us there.
How to Not Waste Grace
“We don’t believe something by merely saying we believe it, or even when we believe that we believe it. We believe something when we act as if it were true,” Dallas Willard emphasizes. And this right here is the key to unwasted grace: acting like–not just believing–that God’s grace saves us.
Grace isn’t earned, but it’s lived.
We live it out when we share how grace meets us in the right-now–in the tangled and torn apart and turned around inside us. When we link arms with others and walk in God’s direction. When we honor God as the hero of our lives.
Unwasted grace looks like hospitality and honest conversation, widening circles and slowing in wonder, apology and forgiveness. It’s making the most of everyday moments to elevate Christ and gently point others to Him. Rubbing elbows and letting the ongoing, redeeming work of God in your life show.
Because when we grasp the gravity of grace it shapes the way we live–in our homes and schools, in our workplaces and churches, in our communities and in our very own neighborhoods.
Let’s pray.
A Blessing as You Make Much of the Life You’ve Been Given
Lord, may we be those who not only receive but respond to grace. May we not be grace-wasters but those so moved by Your grace towards us that it moves us towards the people around us. The people who need to see a tangible expression of grace to understand how Your grace is for them too.
Open our eyes, our hearts, and our homes.
Soften our speech and slow our steps.
May we be quick to welcome, to walk in humility, to thank You out loud.
May we be noticers and inviters and forgivers.
May we be hope-shares and burden-bearers.
May we esteem You highly and not take Your gift of grace lightly.
In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
Just a friend over here in your corner,
P.S. For ideas on how you–true to your unique wiring–can embrace ripple-effect grace in your neighborhood, grab the Enneagram Neighboring Lists. There are four lists for each of the nine Enneagram numbers, to help you
- discover your Enneagram number
- understand what others love best about you
- employ your strengths to mirror God’s grace to your neighbors
- interact with each of the other Enneagram numbers
Each list is available both as phone wallpaper and as a printable pdf.
If you’d like more neighboring tips, sign up for the Neighboring Tip of the Week emails!
P.S. Prefer the audio? Subscribe to The Uncommon Normal podcast for the same weekly content!
