It Must Be Grace

It Must Be Grace

God’s riches at Christ’s expense. That is what I was taught as a child about the word Grace. As I read an excerpt from one of Chuck Swindol’s books this morning there was a phrase that caught my attention. It was one of those “whoa” moments, you know when the light goes off and you suddenly realize something important that maybe you never thought of before. It was one of those moments for me.

Last evening while I was watching television I found myself caught up in the onscreen drama of a real life couple. Like millions of others I tuned in to hear the “big announcement”. Their marriage was over! No big surprise there, the media had been suggesting problems and eminent divorce for weeks, but this was a rating thing. You know the kind that gets people to watch. They had played it up so that all the world would be watching just to see what would happen to them. Guess what, they did not disappoint their fans either. It was confirmed their marriage was over. The reality TV couple was separating and filing for divorce.

How do you think you would feel if suddenly before millions of viewers your life was suddenly on display for the whole world to see? Several years ago there was a not so real reality movie starring Jim Carey about an ordinary man’s life who had his entire life filmed unbeknown to him. Millions of people tuned in to watch his life and he had no idea what was taking place. The cameras were hidden so well that he never knew that everyone in his life were only actors in his life’s story. The town was fake, the friends were fake and everything about his life was a fake.

For this couple however, this is not a movie, it is their life. How sad that their lives have come down to this one defining moment, ratings. Chuck Swindol in his book “Come Before Winter and Share my Hope” describes another man whose life was played out in the pages of the Bible. Jephthah-the meanest man in the old testament. His story is described in Judges chapter 11. We would find him a disgusting human being ranking right along side Osama Ben Laden. He wasn’t worthy of the time given to him in the pages of scripture.

Then there were these words; “But there is one major difference between Jephthah and us. God chose to reveal his past for everyone to read, while He chose to hide ours so none would ever know what colossal misfits we really are. Talk about grace!

That was the phrase that hit me. How would I feel if God chose to reveal my sins to all the world. How would I react to the public humility of it? Honestly, it would be devastating. Like being on national television in a reality TV show, where my life was on public display every week. I couldn’t do it. It wouldn’t be worth the money they would pay me. But, God chooses not to do that. It can only be grace. The grace the He alone gives to me the one who is unworthy. He doesn’t need ratings or money. He needs nothing from me but he chooses to love me in spite of all of my failures. Unlike our TV couple He knows my sins and still loves me, so much so that he gave His only son’s life for me. Now that is GRACE!