Dear Trekker,
God shows up in the strangest places! This time it was the Community Center locker room at the Air Force Academy. My buddy, Tom, and I had finished our workouts and were ready to jump in the shower. We befriended a “preppie” (we thought), as preppies at the Prep School use the Community Fitness Center. Turns out, he’s a first year cadet at the Academy. We asked him if he knew Josh Payton, a previous preppie we had met and sought to encourage. Indeed he did. In his second year as a cadet, Josh was his squad leader. Our new acquaintance told us how well Josh was doing as a cadet and how much he appreciated his leadership.
Hearing that was gratifying for Tom and me, but there is more! You must understand…Josh Payton, related to the famous, Walter Payton of NFL renown, had also been a preppie whom we had met in the locker room! He was a fine young man, yet struggling academically at the prep school. His promise as a USAF officer was so great he was allowed to take the prep school year a second time, a repeat, just to see if he could get accepted into the Academy after two years of prep school. Unheard of! He was given grace, a second chance! And he was proving worthy of the expectations of his superiors.
Later, I remarked to Tom, “Josh has been given a lot of grace. Now he is prepared to grant a lot of grace to others which will help make him a good officer.” Then it hit me! We’ve all been given a lot of grace…yesterday, every day and as long as we shall live. The grace of God is the essence of our lives! And suddenly I knew what my challenge of 2019 was to be and what I wanted to share with you this month.
Grace…greater than all my sins, failures, and shortcomings. Amazing grace! God is love and grace is the flip side of the God coin of love! God’s love and favor is the foundation of all God does for us. He is patient, always seeing us as His children. Grace outlasts anything we do or the good we fail to do. He (God) believes in us. It’s called unconditional love. He sees what we are becoming! Our potential in Him is unlimited! It is the Pauline attitude: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!”
About that time I said to myself, “I can accept the challenge of showing more grace in 2019 for my fellow man because I have been given so much grace.” Then I remembered the story of the unjust debtor in Scripture! He was shown extreme grace, but didn’t (or couldn’t) pass it on to others! Trekker, turn to Matthew 18:22-35. Read it now!
We can thank impulsive Peter for setting up the Lord for this enlightening parable. “How many times must I forgive my brother?” Of course the answer is straightforward…as many times as necessary! Why? “Because all your brothers’ sins have been forgiven by Me”, might have been a good answer! But Jesus preferred to tell a story, to speak a parable! What is interesting is that the debt owed was so astronomical it could never be paid. The King, nonetheless, moved with compassion by the servant’s plea, forgave the entire debt. But the servant did not respond in kind…he demanded full payment for a pittance someone owed to him. Moral of the story… if we don’t show grace and forgiveness when we have received so much from God, how can we expect God to forgive us?
Trekker, one thing is clear throughout the New Testament. Jesus taught repeatedly if we have received mercy/grace/forgiveness, we must pass it on to others! As God has dealt with us, we must deal with others in like manner. God lavishes grace; we must be grace lavishers as well. “Love others as I have loved you” is the Johanian quote of Jesus. We cannot truly love without showing grace to the other fella! What a foundation for dealing with people! Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy (Matthew 5:7). Divine and human forgiveness must go hand-in-hand. When they don’t, the authenticity claimed is surely a myth.
Just a couple of days ago, I encountered again this theme in my daily Bible reading, Matthew 9:1-8. Only God can forgive sins, because the first and final offense is against Him and His created order! But v.8 is most enlightening –“When the crowds saw this, they were moved with awe, and glorified God because He had given such power to man.” This emphasis is instructive. Because God forgives all sin, we can be given the authority to forgive one another. Sin separates, but it need not do so permanently. Since all sin is forgiven in Christ’s death and resurrection, we can enjoy grace and peace with one another as we do with God. Grace shown to others should be tendered on the basis of the grace given to us. We must choose to grant grace!
During the same reading, Matthew 11:28-30 also gave more light. This familiar passage…”Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” is really the yoke of grace. We share with Christ the yoke of “carrying grace” and depositing it on the shoulders of others. Grace bearers are we all! And because of God’s total, unconditional love and grace, “our burden” is light.
We reveal grace in our attitude to others by our words, our forgiveness, our deeds, our encouragement. In humility, we know we’ve been shown so much grace, we must pass it on to others. This is wisdom and common sense and doable.
As we enter a New Year, we can keep the resolution to show more grace to one another. Clearly our judgmental culture needs to reveal a bit more slack to fellow human beings. But we, each one, have a choice. We can throw stones endlessly or forgive profusely, because He forgives us! Let’s choose forgiveness every time. We don’t have to get even. The price of forgiveness was paid on the cross 2,000 years ago. We are free to forgive. Let’s do it today and throughout 2019. Is it a deal? Grace surely is the heart of the Divine deal, the only deal worth making. And I do believe it is infectious. Let’s spread grace around… and around!
Your trekker friend,
Jim Meredith
