GRACE: A Bucket or a Bushel – It’s Not Yours to Give!
One of the many problems plaguing the church world lies in the measurement of sin. We as human beings tend to still relegate our worth on the deeds we do. Thus, if I only steal a pack of chewing gum all the days of my life, i am somehow less of a sinner than one who steals a million dollars from a bank. One of the hardest concepts to understand is the simple word: grace.
While we can realize that we come short of God, it is just hard to feel that we come short of our fellow man. We want distinctions! We want to praised for what we do good, and forgiven for what we do wrong. As the saying goes, "we want to judge others on their actions, and we want to be judged on our intentions". Yet, scripture does not affirm this, rather it says:
Yet grace [God’s undeserved favor] was given to each one of us [not indiscriminately, but in different ways] in proportion to the measure of Christ’s [rich and abundant] gift.Ephesians 4:7 (AMP)
God is the One who pours out HIs grace based on what Christ did, not what we do. Our "yes: to God does only one thing, that is to agree with this grace bestowed. What He does outside of ourselves is not our business. Therefore, if God decides to extend grace to a murderer or some other vile person in the eyes of society, we should rejoice, for He didn’t have to forgive them or us – sin separates from God, whether by little or by much.
I admit that I have had some struggles with this over the years, and will probably be inclined to struggle some more. I have a strong innate sense of justice that wants to try everyone (including myself) on some kind of judicial scale. It is only at times when I know that i have miserably failed at even my own justice system that I really recognize just how great a gift that grace is. And I recognize one thing more, living a life of being a judge and a jury gets to be a very narrow and confining life. There is an element of freedom and liberty that comes with letting God handle both mankind and "us".
Maria