A few weeks ago I had a project to do around the house that wasn’t an emergency but had to get done. It was something above my pay grade and abilities. (By the way it doesn’t take much to get there. I’m not very handy.) So I called a friend of mine to see if he could come and help me. When I asked if he had any time to help me, he responded in a way that caught me completely off guard and even disturbed me a bit. He answered, “I’ll make time for you.”
As strange as it sounds, I felt disturbed and a little bothered. I know, I know it makes no sense. Don’t we all desire friends that will rearrange their schedule for us, who love us enough to make time for us? Yes, theoretically, but to be hit with it face to face is completely humbling. In a sense I didn’t want him to come and help me, but to be something he would do for anyone. I wanted him to say sure it is no big deal. It was quite another thing for him to come and help me just out of friendship with nothing in return. It was completely gratuitous on his part.
In reflecting on this part, I realize there is a part of us that doesn’t want grace , especially a very personal grace. Maybe we don’t want this personal grace because it is so humbling. Yes, Jesus died for us and saved the whole world through his death. When I am lumped in with the rest of humanity, I don’t feel like it is all that personal. I don’t feel that it necessarily it was my sin that nailed him to the cross. But when I sink in that grace is incredibly personal. That all the ways we experience God’s grace, including the cross, God like my friend says, “I would do it for you.” That’s humbling and as that thought crosses my mind and sinks into my heart tears well up.
Over and over again, every single day God puts opportunities before us to receive his grace and says, “I would do it for you.” When we come face to face with that reality, its humbling and amazing.
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