God’s
Riches
At
Christ’s
Expense.
Grace is receiving something that
we don’t deserve. Grace is different from mercy. Mercy is when certain
punishment is not put on us when we rightfully deserve it. Grace on the other
hand, involves reception of gifts that rightfully should not be given to us,
but we get them anyways.
Leonard Griffith, in his book Beneath
the Cross of Jesus, tells of an incident that began on the evening of April
25, 1958. A young Korean exchange student, a leader in student Christian
affairs in the University of Pennsylvania, left his flat and went to the corner
to post a letter to his parents in Pusan. Turning from the mailbox he stepped
into the path of eleven leather-jacketed teenage boys. Without a word they
attacked him, beating him with a blackjack, a lead pipe and with their shoes
and fists. Later, when the police found him in the gutter, he was dead. All
Philadelphia cried out for vengeance. The district attorney secured legal
authority to try the boys as adults so that those found guilty could be given
the death penalty. Then a letter arrived from Korea that made everyone stop and
think. It was signed by the parents and by twenty other relatives of the murdered
boy. It read in part:
"Our family has met together and we
have decided to petition that the most generous treatment possible within the
laws of your government be given to those who have committed this criminal action--.In
order to give evidence of our sincere hope contained in this petition, we have
decided to save money to start a fund to be used for the religious,
educational, vocational, and social guidance of the boys when they are
released--.We have dared to express our hope with a spirit received from the
gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ who died for our sins."
Did you see the difference between mercy and grace? The first part
of their request is an expression of mercy. The second part of the request in
which a fund was raised for the teen-agers is grace. Grace is not just the
deliverance from hell and a punishment that a person rightfully deserves; it is
the salvation to heaven, to being called one of God’s children, to having the
same benefits as if we had lived the very life that Jesus lived. It is
receiving God’s love when we don’t deserve it. God has an amazing amount of
grace to give to you.
But God, being
rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we
were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you
have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the
heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the
immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by
grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is
the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:4-9
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A Few Q's for You
How has God shown grace to you?
Write your answer in a comment. If it is too personal, make it anonymous.
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