With many Lifegroupers still out for summer activities, Lifegroup was an intimate affair tonight. We spent most of the evening talking about grace and what exactly that word means. When I think of grace, I usually think of Titus 2:11-13:

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I know some translations say that grace teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts (e.g. the ESV says, "training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions ..."). Webster defines grace as "unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration and sanctification." So it seems grace -- God's unmerited favor -- is the vehicle God uses to allow us to walk in holiness, as we deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. The truth is, we can't deny jack squat without His minute-by-minute grace.

Some of the LG discussion tonight centered on Paul's salutation of "grace to you" to the Corinthian Christians. My thoughts were that Paul is not flippant, and if he tells someone "grace to you," then he really means it. And, as we know, 1 Corinthians was addressed to the Corinthian believers but also to "all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours" (1 Corinthians 1:3).

I'm thankful for that little word that's loaded with significance, and I'm thankful that our Lord was full of grace (John 1:14). Grace changed the world.