Grace Fills Empty Spaces*
A Void We All Have
Grace is something to be cherished and never taken for granted. It is a gift; a wonderful valued gift. God’s grace should be treasured even more than grace given by another human being. Gift Gugu Mona explains it like this: “The Grace of God offers humanity a chance to access undeserved blessings.” We do not deserve God’s grace, nor His continuous blessings, yet He continues to give abundantly. There is not a single thing we can do in this world to earn God’s grace.
Simone Weil says that “Grace fills empty spaces, but it can only enter where there is a void to receive it.” He tells how we must be open to receive God’s grace and we must have a “void” to accept it. That does not mean we have to be empty to receive grace, but if you do not wish to accept it then you will not. I believe that God endlessly gives grace. You must be willing to accept the gift. We must understand that nothing we do will be worthy of this grace, except for thankfully and humbly accepting it.
Charles Portis wrote of God’s grace, in his book True Grit, explaining it like this: “You must pay for everything in this world one way and another. There is nothing free except the Grace of God. You cannot earn that or deserve it.” Portis explains how the grace given by God is unlike other things that you must earn. He explains how nothing is free in life. That makes it hard to believe how God just gives grace wishing for nothing in return; all we must do is accept the gift. I believe that God’s grace is a wonderful unmeasurable thing that is given to us even if we do not deserve it — which we typically do not. When people do favors for me, I typically wish to do something for them in return, but that is not what a favor is. A favor requires nothing in return. Grace is like this as well; we do not do anything to obtain it. This shows how great God’s love is for us. He expects nothing in return but extensively provides. That is something to praise God for.
“Grace defies reason and logic,” says the lead vocalist, and primary lyricist of U2. Grace follows no laws. In life, we always feel the need to give reasoning, and we feel everything needs to be logical. Grace does not follow any of those things. It does not make logical sense. Grace is not something somebody just made up and now makes you pay for; it is truly free. God’s grace does not have specific guidelines that need to be followed. It simply is given when God chooses to give it.
I have concluded that grace is more than just somebody being nice and having mercy on you. It is something to be cherished and valued. In most cases, it is very rare to find people who will have grace and mercy on you. It is very hard for me to understand how God just gives grace when we clearly are undeserving of it. We are sinners who continuously sin and displease God; He gives grace and mercy regardless.
The quotes above brought up some interesting points. They talked about how grace is not something you pay for, earn, or deserve. Weil also spoke on an amazing idea of how we should be open to God’s grace; about having an empty space that grace can come and fill. That is such an interesting concept.
The most important thing I have learned is that when you are given grace you need to take it. It is not something that is just thrown about without a care. God’s grace is one of the amazing ways He shows His love and mercy to us. In this way, we should show grace to others and expect nothing in return and with no hesitation. However, we should not be walked all over and continuously give grace to people who take advantage of that. Some people do not see grace as something to be cherished as much as it should. People have the capability to continue to take your precious gift with no thought or appreciation. God wants us to be kind and show grace, He values us, and does not wish for us to be walked all over. Without grace we would have a sad world full of no mercy and less kindness. God has repeatedly shown us grace, as we can see in His Word and our lives.
In my life, I continuously displease God, but He gives me grace. He forgives me and continues to love me just the same. My name is Grace so I have always heard the word grace but never fully understood what that word meant outside of being what people called me. When I was around the age of ten or eleven, I began to realize what grace truly meant. In church, I learned how God shows grace, and how we can show grace to others. Not only has the Lord clearly shown me and all of humanity grace — by sending His Son to die on the cross instead of us — my parents also often show me grace in many ways. An example of this is when I was homeschooled. At times I would not get my schoolwork done when my mom told me to. However, my mom would have grace on me and give me one more day to complete it. She did not need to give me one more day, but she did out of grace.
It is sometimes challenging to show grace to others, or even yourself, but it is a necessity. The gift of grace is beautiful, charitable, and honorable. However, it is rare for human beings to give this gift out. God tells us to love others, and showing grace is a perfect way to. As imperfect beings, we fail at showing grace and love constantly. We need to have an empty space willing and ready to receive grace. We can only strive to give grace as perfectly and generously as God does.
