The Gift of Grace

I agree with you -- Grace is "one of the most powerful lessons that Jesus tried to teach us," as you observed. In fact, Grace is the unique quality of Christianity that separates it from all other faiths. The song "Amazing Grace" is trotted out frequently to invoke a "religious feel," yet how often do people consider the words they are singing? Few, I'd suspect.

Grace is properly defined as unmerited favor. It's important to dwell on the adjective there -- Grace, the gift of forgiveness, is something granted by God despite our not deserving it. We do nothing to earn it. God, out of his infinite love, grants forgiveness. "For God so loved the world ..." (John 3:16)

Note: there's a tension here: The granting of Grace is part of God's sovereign domain, yet it requires our accepting Christ as savior first. Yet it is not a transaction; our accepting Christ does not earn us Grace. It is unmerited. I can't fully resolve this tension.

All other faiths have either a merit system or a notion of an unapproachable deity. Only Christianity has a personal, approachable God whose love extends to us despite our having utterly rejected him in our thoughts and ways. Recall the parable of the prodigal son -- he takes his inheritance early, splurges it all on things that do not honor his father, and winds up in an utterly ruined man. But in repenting and coming back to his father's house, he finds his father running out to greet him, showering him with warmth and love. That is the God of Christianity -- welcoming back his children that return in a spirit of true repentance, and wrapping them in the warm blanket of Grace, purchased by the blood of Jesus on the cross of Calvary.

Alistair Begg, senior pastor of Parkside Church in Cleveland, Ohio, once said that the surest sign of one who knows forgiveness from God is one who displays a forgiving spirit. It is out of a spirit of real recognition of Grace that a man displays true and humble forgiveness in return.