Grace changes us. Those who receive grace are enabled to give grace. And it shouldn't surprise us that the grace we give will be the same kind that we receive.

In the second movement of this series we consider five Christian graces that reflect the grace God has given us. The first grace is the grace of forgiveness. And to no surprise it is forgiven people who forgive people. "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you" (Eph. 4:32). That's a powerful analogy.

Forgiveness gets to the center of Christianity. Sinners accumulate an unpayable debt against God. We fail to live up to his holy standard. And for our sin we accrue punishment that will completely ruin us. In Christ, God forgives us. He doesn't deny that we are sinners. But he chooses to not hold our sins against us because in his life and death Jesus has been holy for us and suffered the penalty our sins deserve. Because of Jesus, God pardons iniquity and passes over transgressions. "He will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:18, 19).

To those who believe that promise, who know that the merciful, gracious, patient, loving God "does not deal with us according to our sins" (Ps. 103:8, 10) God says, do likewise.