Love
The theological definition of grace is divine love and protection bestowed freely upon mankind. And upon all mankind. I would submit to you that the grace of God is not something that is reserved for certain individuals or groups of individuals, even those collected in religious bodies, but that the grace of God must exist for all mankind.
Grace is defined as the favor of God, the unmerited love and favor of God. Grace is a very powerful force or influence that can and does transform. It changes. It nurtures, heals and provides. It does whatever is necessary at the moment that something is necessary. Grace is an incredible experience for all who have experienced the grace of God.
Jesus was born into a male dominant society. Male dominant societies, almost without exception, as a matter of fact I have never heard of or read of an exception, become groups of persons who tend to create an image of God as a male person with masculine characteristics. And with very few of the feminine characteristics such as affectionate, love, warmth, nurturing. Now, in his teaching, Jesus ran into a great deal of trouble from people that were his own people because he was bringing to them some really some new ideas. He was talking about God as being personal in the sense that anyone could experience God, that God was approachable, that God was there, that God was within each person. And he was saying that he had conscious contact with God, that he was communicating with God and that was blasphemous to his people.
He talked about the love of God and gave many examples. And in those examples, more often than not, he really was describing more of what we would define as the feminine aspects of love. So, I think about love as warm. The love of God, the grace of God is something that is very, very close in hand, very near to you, caring, aware.
Paul who is speaking in the 8th chapter of Romans said:
- if God is for us, who can be against us?
Paul is really not raising the question of if God is for us, meaning if God should be for us. It really is a positive statement. It is an affirmation. He’s saying God is for us. And because God is for us, who can be against us? God is for us and therefore who or what can stand between us and our good? Who then can separate us from the love of God? And do you know who can separate you from the love of God? There’s only one person on this planet that can do that. It’s you.
Now, you don’t separate yourself from the love of God because of anything that you have ever done or could possibly do. The only way that you can separate yourself from the love of God is to not believe it exists. To not realize it. To not accept it. It’s there. It is always there. Jesus was constantly pointing out to us that as we think, so do we experience. That what we see is what we get.
- What we believe becomes what we experience as our own destiny.
Love and gratitude in the Bible are presented as deeply interconnected virtues, here are a few examples:
- 1 John 4:19 says: “We love because he first loved us.”
- 1 Thessalonians 5:18 commands: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
- Ephesians 5:20 encourages: “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This biblical pattern shows that gratitude opens our hearts to receive love more fully, and love opens our eyes to see more reasons for gratitude. Gratitude is not just a virtue for which we receive points, but it’s an attitude that lifts us to the fullest level of consciousness and brings us into the highest kind of life.
When you and I are being grateful to God, we are holding God responsible for our lives. When we give credit to God, then we, in a sense, are setting a value. The word praise means to express warm approval or admiration for to command to applaud and comes from a French word meaning to prize, which comes from a Latin word meaning to price. When we praise something, we are setting the price of that thing. We are establishing its value for us.
- When we praise God and give thanks to God, we are establishing the fact that the power of God, the intelligence of God, the love of God, the experience of God in our lives, is a thing of great value.
That it is a prize and you have established in your mind and in the mind of God how highly you prize that relationship.
- The whole world loves a grateful heart.
Love