Preview

At times I really hate the word grace.  It’s a word which implies that I must forgive people who’ve treated me with injustice.  I like gracious connecting people that say, “I’m sorry, I was really wrong, will you forgive me…please?”  “Sure, no problem.” 

It’s the others that never notice and therefore never ask that irk me.  I really don’t like forgiving them.

Grace is a word that can be tremendously unfair.  I stand in line at the DMV for hours and hours doing my Christian best to be patient. I’m about to speak to the attendant inside the window another person rudely cuts in front of me.

That’s when I lose it!  I justifiably grab them by the collar and throw them out of the way and take my rightful place at the window.  This may be the very circumstance where legal minds came up with the idea of justifiable homicide.

I’ve never done that, but I’ve wanted to!  Why? I really don’t like grace.  I want justice, I’ve waited, I’ve earned this spot at the window, I’ve faithfully shuffled, fully committed to my chain of humanity, valiantly defending the laws of our civilization, even when my bladder has screamed, “Run!”  When someone cuts in front of me, I dislike, I even detest, grace.

But when I’m the one that’s in a rush and late for 20 things and I need to cut at the window, it’s at this moment that I lose my commitment to civilization and say, “Grace, grace to all, thanks for allowing me grace at the window!”

Why this frustration between grace and justice?

Eugene O’Neill says, “Man is born broken. He lives by mending. The grace of God is glue.”

I know O’Neill’s first sentence is true, I am broken.  I know his last sentence is true, God is grace glue.  It’s the middle sentence I dislike because mending is such frustrating work!  

It’s hard to be committed to the kind of grace to which God is committed.

This Sunday we’ll discuss the depth of God’s grace from Romans 5 and why it’s so important to connection.