Grace defined

So many of the words that have a sacred meaning have been diluted by non-sacred usage. Words like hope, faith, love and belief have lost some of their meaning through common usage. According to Philip Yancey, grave is the one word that has not entered popular usage, yet.

This eveening I was watching TV. I saw a commercial for a bank that has instituted "24 hour grace." Overdrawal your account and you have 24 hours to "make it right before you have to pay the overdraft fee.

That's not grace. Grace isn't a delay in consequences until we can make it right. Grace is God's gift given in the sure knowledge that we will never "male it right in our own." Grace is God's response to our inability to ever make it right.