2025: Grace Upon Grace

Welcome to 2025! A new year seems to have its way of giving us a much needed reset in our life. We find ourselves exploring all of the ways that we can bring about a new level of change. The gym membership and the Bible devotion are added into our daily routine and we begin to set ambitious goals that more often than not end up setting ourselves up for failure. There are certainly those individuals that use the first of the year to make the changes they have been wanting to make their entire life – but then there are those of us who tend to start out with the best of intentions and then end up falling right back into the same habits that we found ourselves in before.

I cannot tell you how many times in my life that I have started the new year out hoping that it would be the year that I finally made it through the 365 day reading plan or somehow made the gym a mandatory part of my daily routine. I do not have some sort of special tip for you on making this year the one that changes everything but what I do know is that the moment I started to understand grace and what it meant for me in my life – everything changed.

The reason that I wanted to start out this new year writing on grace is because that is exactly what the number 25 means in the Bible. I always like to dive deeper into the different numbers that are found within the Bible and see what they mean. The number 25 actually means “Grace Upon Grace” which is fitting since the number 5 simply means grace – then 5×5=25 would mean that 25 is grace multiplied by itself.

So what exactly is grace? We sing of it and teach on it and preach on it but what does it mean? Grace as defined by Webster is the unmerited divine assistance given to us for our regeneration or sanctification. One of my favorite ways to define grace is everything that God gives us that we do not deserve. I can think of so many different things in my life that are such tangible references of His grace being poured out over and over again.

One reason that I wanted to write on grace to start this year out is because I believe that in order for us to accomplish anything that we truly desire – it has to be accompanied with grace. This means pouring out grace to ourselves when we fall short and make mistakes as well as to others when they do the same. If we can gather around together on Sunday mornings and sing of the goodness of God and His grace in our life over and over again but yet do not extend grace ourselves then have we truly grasped what it means?

Grace might be considered God’s best idea yet! It is His decision to overtake us with His love and to rescue us in a passionate way that leads to our restoration. I have found that when we really start to understand how His grace is poured out over our life then we will stop falling back onto the foundation of shame and guilt for the days that we fall short.

Grace is not an excuse to remain lazy and undisciplined in all of your ways. You have certainly done enough of that in your life – otherwise you would not be in the situation that you are currently in with wanting to change something about yourself. However, applying grace to everything in your life also means that you do not walk away and give up on the first day of failure.

One of the reasons that we wait on a new year in order to begin a new resolution is because often times we feel as if we have failed one too many times and starting new habits in a new year just seems to be the right thing to do. I need you to go ahead and give yourself some grace for not wanting to get up and go to the gym tomorrow or for missing your daily reading devotion (even though you promised that you would do two days in a row later on).

I am so thankful that God does not merit His favor and His grace over my life based on the days that I do everything correct rather than the days that I do not. WAIT? Someone who is called into ministry, referred to as a “worship pastor”, writes blogs on spirituality, teaches on discipleship, leads praise and worship, and is pursuing a post secondary degree in religious studies does not do it all correct? ABSOLUTELY NOT!

Grace is not your excuse to fall short and live your life without a care in the world – but it is every bit of your reason to never give up. I will admit that I have started a new journal and new devotional with the intentions of my daily routine becoming scheduled around that part of my day as opposed to the other way around where I struggle to find time around all that I have planned but that has not always been the case. There are some days that I do not start my day with opening the Word of God and spending time with Him. There are certainly days that I do not make my way into a prayer meeting or a Bible Study. In fact I would go a step further and let you know that there are even days where I do not want to. Yep, I said it! There are days that I do not want to read my Bible, go to church, pray, or write blogs. And the only way that I am able to share that with you and not become consumed with shame or guilt is because I have discovered what it means for grace to be poured out over my life.

I live in reality and somehow our culture has created this idea that going to church removes you from reality and places you into a super spiritual category – that is a mistake. That is like saying that having a gym membership this past year puts you into a healthy living category – and somehow you are trying to figure out how to get yourself to start that normal routine again. The issue is that we have not allowed grace to consume us in all things.

The same reason that people pull away from having a spiritually disciplined life is the same reason that they stop going to the gym when they miss two of their scheduled days – they have no grace for themselves. I want you to know that God is not mad with you just because you made it to day 3 of The Bible Recap last year (which is by far my favorite daily reading plan for the Bible – check it out if you haven’t already). God is not looking down on you with anger because you wake up some days and decided to sleep in rather than get up and spend time with Him. Does that mean that He would not have loved to spend time with you? Absolutely not! He longs to have relationship with us and never turns His back just because we fell short in our plan. That is grace.

Grace is mentioned around 170 times throughout the Bible! It is not really a word that we should be unfamiliar with since we use it on a daily basis in our life: the grace period at the bank, the grace note as a musician, hospitals have the name, there are people that are named Grace, and we have even described ballet dancers as being graceful. However, it does seem that while the word is used periodically around us, there seems to be a disconnect in the way that we model what it means to others or even understand what it means for ourselves.

Grace as it pertains to what God pours out over our life actually shares the church parsonage with its cousins forgiveness, faith and fellowship. Each of these areas invite us into change. Grace is the voice that calls us to change and then gives us the strength to pull it off. Oh – now it makes sense as to why we do not make it very far into our resolution every year.

When we understand what Grace Upon Grace means for our own life then we remove the intimidation that sets in when we begin to compare ourselves to others. When we understand what it means then we lose the arrogance that can sometimes manifest itself when we accomplish any level of our goal. Grace is given to humility and humility is found in each one of us that realizes we have not arrived and do not seek to elevate ourselves based on any sort of performance based scale.

James 4:6 “And He gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

If you are looking to experience grace for this new year – it starts with a posture of humility. Humility is a posture that can only be found in the heart and the heart is where our motivation for change should take place. The reason that you are wanting to improve every area of your life should not be so that you can point to all the things you do – but it should begin in your heart because it is the person that you were created to be.

I want to challenge you to invite God’s abundance of grace into your life this year and encourage you to seek a deeper understanding as to what it means for the life that you know you were created for. Could it be that you have not ever been able to accomplish your goals because you have tried to do so in your own strength?

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 “Each time He said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

I believe that by inviting grace into your heart and into your mind – you will begin to experience a new level of forgiveness for yourself for the days that you fall short. You will begin to realize that no one is upset with you because you set a goal and did not accomplish the goal. Set a new one! Do not allow your failure from yesterday or your shortcoming from last year to be the reason that you have to wait another year before you feel like it is acceptable to restart. You can do hard things this year and accomplish so much of what you have been hoping for as long as you realize that it will never be possible in our own strength alone. Invite the power of God into your life this year and experience a new level of living!

2025 can be the year that everything changes for you – but it might not look like what you thought it was going to. Celebrate the days that you are strong and worship on the days that you fall short because neither one of those days were short on God’s abundance of grace being poured out over you.

His grace is sufficient for every battle you fight and every problem that you face. It is His grace that will carry us each day and it is His grace that we should be reflecting in our life to others so that they too can begin to walk in true freedom and pure joy. I would challenge those of you that want to be effective in sharing the true Gospel with others – start with being a conductor of grace. The message of the Gospel is best understood when the true meaning of grace has been experienced.

I pray that God’s grace over your life continues to be poured out in ways that blow your mind and that you begin to understand how you are able to share your understanding of this with those around you.

Grace Upon Grace Unto You!