Thankful for the Gift of Grace

One thing we do not see often in our world is grace. Grace is something we love to receive but it is something that is much harder to give. We criticize and judge people's actions. We seek revenge on those that hurt us. We make people pay for their mistakes. As parents, Dwayne and I tried very hard to teach our children obedience and consequences. However, it was very important to us to demonstrate grace to them as well. We wanted them to experience our grace and teach them about God’s grace. The main definition of the word GRACE is ‘unmerited favor’. One of my favorite biblical stories of grace is of the woman caught in adultery. Jesus was teaching and some legalistic, proud men brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus. I am sure with their arrogant attitude, they did not give her the respect of letting her pull herself together before they grabbed her and dragged her to her public humiliation. She might have been able to reach for a blanket or some cloth to cover herself, or she could have been naked; we really do not know. It frustrates me that we do not see the man being brought before Jesus, just the woman. This shows they choose what sin and whose sin they wanted to judge. In the culture of the time, it was understood that she would be stoned to death for her sin. Each person would pick up a stone and throw it, then they would do it over and over until her body couldn't’t take anymore and would breathe its last breath. The Pharisees tried to entrap Jesus to endorse the stoning or to go against the law. Jesus took another approach. He started writing in the sand. There are great debates as to what he wrote, but we will never know. In my mind, I believe he was writing out the sins he knew had been committed by those present. Then he said the words, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her”. Here is when we get to hear what grace sounds like. One by one they dropped their stones and walked away. Close your eyes and ear the sound of a stone hitting the dry dirt with a thud, then another, and another. That is the sound of grace! Followed by the words of grace, which Jesus spoke, “I do not condemn you”. Amazing!
What about you? When someone in your life has sinned, maybe against you or a loved one, and you find a rock in your hand, what are you going to do with it? Are you going to throw it, or are you going to give grace and drop it?
Because of the sins I have committed, I, like the woman in the story, deserved stoning; deserved death. Jesus took the 'stoning' for me and took on the death that due me. That makes me want to ask the question, “Why me?”. There is no other answer except grace! It was God granting favor to me though there was not one thing in me that merited it. What a gift! I will never understand why someone would refuse the gift of grace and salvation. Why they would turn and walk away from it. I accepted this gift in the fall of 1971 as a young child in the 4th grade. At the moment I accepted salvation, Jesus said the words of grace, “I do not condemn you." It awes me still today! Without the gift of grace, nothing else matters. There are no words to adequately describe my gratitude and thankfulness for the grace I am been given. We have heard the code that if a man saves the life of another, the person saved must live in debt to the rescuer and serve him for their entire life. In reality, I haven’t heard of anybody actually living out that code, except in the movies! However, I think it does apply to my relationship with Jesus. He saved me from eternal death and I choose to live the rest of days serving him out of thankfulness, not because I have to but because I want to!

The religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said, "Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. what do you say?" They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, "the sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone." Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt. hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest. The woman was left alone. Jesus stood up and spoke to her, "Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?" "No one, Master." "Neither do I," said Jesus. "Go on your way. From now on don't sin."

John 8: 3-11 (The Message)