grace - the full potential

And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. Zechariah 12:10

I get frustrated nowadays when grace is cheapened or reduced to human activity. In the season of Lent this year somehow my extra Lent disciplines have not really fallen into place. Instead a deepening understanding of grace has been emerging in having to explain many things. Grace is an expression of love - an activity of love. It is both gift itself and the giving of gift because of its source and intrinsically the recipient's undeservedness. Often characterized in Christian terms God's Rescue At Christ's Expense there is so much more. In recent discussions I have had to look again and again at Judas and Peter. From the human side we see betrayal and denial, but when we look closely we see two of the most painful responses that can be made to love itself. One step further is in seeing God's love in action and this knowing that betrayal and denial will be the responses of Judas and Peter, makes that love even larger. Even one step further on, the Love of God has for both of them the potential of forgiveness and restoration,. This makes my view of love as only divine and thus also grace.