Grace Wins

Album: Live Forever (2015)
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Songfacts®:

  • This is a track from Live Forever, the third of Matthew West's trilogy of albums inspired by stories shared with him from people all over the world. This song about overcoming negative circumstances was inspired by a letter the singer received from a young man named Robert. West told NewReleaseToday:

    "He said, 'My name's Robert. I was at your concert, and you sang a song and told a story about somebody battling addiction and it hit my heart because I'm just like that. I want to be a child of the One True King and can you help me?' Turns out this young man was addicted to heroin and he wound up at my concert sort of by accident, but all of a sudden something touched his heart and he decided he was going to reach out for help as he hadn't found redemption yet. He was still in the defeat of his addiction.

    My dad is a minister, and together we were able to get on the phone with this young man and get him into the same recovery program that the other guy graduated from. That's what made me write the song 'Grace Wins.'"
  • Asked what the song's takeaway message is, West replied: "The message that I hope to share with people is that if we were perfect, there would be no need for grace. Grace goes hand in hand with imperfection or flaws.

    I grew up going to church my whole life, and we unrealistically place pressure on ourselves to live a perfect life. There is only One who lived a perfect life, and He is the One who gave His life so we imperfect people could find grace in the hope of a new beginning.

    The big message is that the goal is not perfection, the goal is that we are to be made proof of a perfect God. When you say "I'm living proof that grace wins every time," you are saying "I'm far from perfect, but let me tell you about God who is perfect. He's the One who changed my life, and He's the reason I can sing about grace."
  • The track was Matthew West's sixth #1 on Billboard's Hot Christian Songs chart. He told the publication that he was "blown away" upon learning of his rise to the summit.

    West added: "I think of this song as a victory anthem and I hope its message has reminded people that we don't have to live life weighed down by the defeat of mistakes we've made. Nobody's perfect. But we are proof. Living proof that grace wins every time."

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