Grace (Part I) - Introduction

The word “grace”, like the word “love”, is one of those words everyone feels comfortable employing, but very few care to know how it works.  It is great filler for any Christian conversation.  The believer says grace at dinner, thanks God for the grace He has given him in his daily life, and stands ready to tell his neighbors that they need to extend grace to that other neighbor down the street.   
Take the example of a familiar commodity - gasoline.  The person shopping next to you in the produce section is all too eager to inform you how gasoline could be cheaper, or more accessible, or how to exterminate it all together.  That same expert, however, may have a slightly different demeanor if you were to press him on what gasoline actually does in the engine.  
Grace is fuel for the soul; therefore, the believer needs to understand what it actually does in order for it to be used, and appreciated, correctly.  The next few posts will examine how grace exists:  

1. For Good Works
2. In Salvation
3. During Suffering

*Before reading the posts on grace please take time to read the account of Stephen’s life found in Acts 6:1-8:3.