Wednesday May 24, 2017
?Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.? Luke 6:38
This past weekend I was on my way to work when I got pulled over for going 70 in a 55. Whoops.
My husband and I also have just recently switched to a merged car insurance, and I didn’t have the proof in my vehicle, but my counter at home did. Yikes.
The possibility of not getting a ticket wasn’t looking great.
To top it off my car registration tags were five months old, my right break light was dim, and my exhaust was apparently “uncommonly loud.”
The officer asked me to get out of my vehicle and come and sit in the passenger seat of his car. Gulp.
He proceeded to explain to me he was giving me a warning for my speeding, insurance, registration, break light, and exhaust.
What? How is that even possible? I literally had nothing going for my cause.
As I sat in the passenger seat of the trooper’s vehicle, I got a picture of what grace looks like.
Grace is undeserved. It is not a result of your performance, your attitude, your victories, or your defeats.
If we had to earn grace, we would lose it, or never get it in the first place.
If you received salvation because of what you did, it wouldn?t be grace. It would be wages or reward.
I make a lot of mistakes. I forget important things on the counter, and I drive too fast.
That day I deserved multiple tickets, but I walked away free.
That’s exactly what Jesus has offered every single one of us.
My initial reaction is often to give others what I think they deserve, but seeing what I deserved and knowing what I haven’t received puts things into perspective.
So, this week I’m praying for grace like my kind state trooper.
Prayer: “Lord, thank you for your grace, and the grace others have given me in times where I deserve it the least. Help me to give grace freely to the people I come in contact with. Amen.”
-Whitney Flach
