Grace is “the divine help or strength extended to us through the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
It makes me think of the phrase “deus ex machina” which is Latin for “God out of the machine” and refers to a moment in a movie when something unexpected saves the main characters from a seemingly hopeless situation. It points out the odd ways in which a director manipulates the plot to have a positive outcome for the hero.
But there’s nothing odd about how this really works in our lives. If you’ve ever had the experience of finding extra cash when you really needed it, for instance, that’s grace. We might consider this to be the “lesser” type of grace, which is how God intervenes in the temporal matters in our lives for our good.
The higher intent of grace is to save us from our mortal state of sin that keeps us from returning to live with God. It’s the divine help that we get to become better as we repent of our sins.
Both types of grace involve the same assistance from God that’s far more than we anticipated and that delivers us from dire situations in which we think there is no way out. In this way, it’s closely related to mercy.
Mercy is “the compassionate treatment of a person greater than what is deserved, and it is made possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.”
It’s when you feel forgiveness of your sins even though you don’t feel like you deserve it. Mercy is anytime God gives us more love and blessings than we think we’re worthy of. And it happens all the time.
Everything you have is a gift of mercy. In our fallen, earthly state, our imperfection merits none of the blessings God can give us. Yet He gives them to us anyway because He loves us and wants us to be happy. He can do this only because of Jesus Christ’s atonement.
It hit me the other day as I was learning about these two principles that parenting is the perfect way to understand each of them.
When my kids are hungry, I intervene and feed them. When they get sick or hurt, I help them feel better. I am the “deus ex machina” for all that my kids go through while they are young because I provide help with everything they can’t yet do on their own.
My power is greater than my children’s, just as God’s power is greater than all of His children’s. And both I and God use our higher power to care for our kids because we love them.
Sometimes, I have to withhold privileges when my kids misbehave. But I still want to give them the thing I have to keep from them, so as they come to me and get help to be better, I still give them what I had hoped to, even if they might not have done what I asked to deserve it at first.
God is the same to all of us. He has to withhold blessings when we make mistakes and sin. He still wants to give us all of the miracles and great things he has in store for us. And because of Christ’s Atonement, He can, even when we don’t deserve it. But only if we come unto Him and give our hearts to Him.
Parenting, then, is the perfect classroom for learning how God gives us grace and mercy. He teaches us about how He feels about us by letting us practice these divine attributes with our own kids just as He’s giving them to us.
So the next time you show your kids grace and mercy, remember that’s what God is trying to give you as well. You don’t have to be so hard on yourself all the time. God wants to intervene to relieve you from suffering, grant you blessings, and treat you with compassion even when you don’t think you deserve it.
All you have to do is come unto Him.
