Giving grace

Grace doesn’t make sense.

In a world that runs heavily on meritocracy, the concept of grace is met with either intense skepticism or outright rejection. The story of the prodigal son is particularly insightful in revealing where our hearts lie when it comes to grace.

It goes:

A father wakes up to the younger of his two sons, asking for his share of their father’s inheritance. Feels abominable, right? It gives “I’ve been waiting for you to die” vibes

So when the younger son squanders all he has and becomes so dirt poor and hungry that the meal for pigs feels like a treat, somewhere in our minds, we may be rejoicing. Finally, this disgraceful son has got what he deserved; it serves him right.

As the story goes, the young man resolves to go back home, with the following words:

“Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired laborers”.

Jesus notes the Father’s reaction to the son's return:

But when he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him…

If you’re thinking this is weird, yep, it is, very, very and then in response to the son’s rehearsed apology, Jesus continues:

...the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet... and bring the fattened calf, slaughter it, and let’s eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.

A party, they organised a party for the boy!!!!

This is not how the story should have gone!! We’re more likely to relate to the elder son’s attitude:

But he became angry and unwilling to go in, and his father came out and began pleading with him. But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you never gave me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.

The Father’s actions didn’t make sense to the elder son, and certainly wouldn’t make sense to us. In a world that punishes us for failing and is very harsh about it, too, actions such as these are hard to accept. Some may even think the father to be a weak-willed man. But this is the point of today’s post:

How do we respond when God’s grace is given to the most underserving of all?

Sometimes, like the elder son, we are blinded by the disgraceful nature of the sins of others so much that we fail to see when God's grace is at work to make them better.

The Father’s response to the elder son is crucial:

“And he said to him, ‘Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’”

In his cry for justice, the elder son had forgotten he also lost a younger brother. He had forgotten about the things already available to him, he was just fixated on how unfair it was.

It is sad to note, but Christians sometimes give the least grace to others that sin. How quick we sometimes are, expecting and even calling for judgment and punishment for them. How easily do we wish bad on those who have been evil, even when God’s grace tempers justice with mercy? How easily do we become the elder son to the prodigals around us?

Dear friend,

If you think that a born-again lady with a +50 body count in her past life is less deserving of a godly marriage than a virgin just because, then you probably have a warped idea of God’s grace.

God loved us when we were his enemies, way before we ever dreamed of loving Him, so why do we assume God loves us more than an unbeliever just because we love Him back?

Why do you think you’re deserving of "good things" at the expense of others because you are Christian and they're not??

If you truly understand how much you’ve been forgiven, rather than disdain and much stronger than empathy, you’ll see everyone through God’s eyes. Instead of harshly criticising the faults of others first, we will desire to pray for them. Rather than rejoicing when a brother or sister falls with taunts of "I told you so", we’ll recognise how slippery the slope to falling is and caution in love. Rather than being ignorant to the truest needs of the unbeliever, we will choose to show God’s love.

This is what it means to regard everyone as one for whom Christ died.

This is what it means to know no man now after the flesh.

This is what it means to give grace to others.

Cheers to this March, where we show grace to whomever, regardless!!