‘Grace is getting what we don’t deserve.  Mercy is not getting what we do deserve.’ (Anon)

‘We were born broken.  It is the grace of God that mends us.’

‘Grace does not destroy nature, it perfects it.’ (Thomas Aquinas)

I am not what I might be,
I am not what I ought to be,
I am not what I wish to be,
I am not what I hope to be;
But I thank God I am not what I once was, and I can say with the great apostle, ‘By the grace of God I am what I am.’

(John Newton)

All that I was, my sin, my guilt,
My death, was all my own;
All that I am I owe to thee,
My gracious God, alone.

(Horatius Bonar)

‘Grace is what everyone needs, what none can merit, and what God alone can give.’ (George Barlow)

‘Saving grace makes a man as willing to leave his lusts as a slave is willing to leave his galley, or a prisoner his dngeon, or a thief his bolts, or a beggar his rages.’ (Thomas Brooks)

‘We are born with our backs to God and heaven, and our faces towards sin and hell, till grace comes and turns us round.’ (Philip Henry, slightly altered)

‘The ocean will support a boat or a battleship, and God’s grace will support any weight put upon it.’ (Vance havner)

A re-telling of the parable of the prodigal son:

There was a man who had two sons.  The younger son said to his father, “Father, give me my share of the estate.”  So he divided his property between them.  And the younger son went off to a distance county and there squandered his wealth in wild living.  But when his money ran out he came to his senses and set off back home.

But while he was still a long way off, his older brother came out to meet him.  “Look,” he said, “the old man is still really angry with you.  But I tell you what.  He loves me, because while you’ve been off living it up, I’ve led a blamelss life here and never done anything wrong.  So I’ll have a word with him for you and see if I can’t get him to let you back in.  You’ll have to be good, though, and watch your step, because I warn you, one false move and you’re out.”

Is this the Christian message?  In the parable as Jesus told it, it was the Father who ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him, sahying, “Let’s have a feast and celebrate!”

(Simon Coupland, Spicing up your Speaking, p12)