Monday, March 10, 2008
Grace
Justin Holcomb at CGO writes of "gratuitous grace." In it he relates a story where his father forgave him for a seriously awful thing. I know the feeling, I have a similar story - it involved a car and I was only about 12. Anyway, his conclusion to the story:
So, how can we, as Justin claims, not go too far with grace, if grace comes with these conditions? Does grace extend to the unrepentant? I know in the case of my father, had I not been sufficiently humbled and honest, there would have been a very different result.
Punishment is not for punishment, it is for instruction. Had I been less contrite, my father would have punished me, not out of anger, but because I needed to learn sufficient contrition in the instance.
I certainly think the same holds for our Heavenly Father. I am not going to here try and unwrap that in terms of eternity and heaven and hell, but I am going to take note of its reality. Those who would contend that a loving God would not punish or hurt are just wrong. Such things are, in fact, expressions of love and acts of grace.
Technorati Tags:grace, love, forgiveness, punishment
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator
In that moment, the reality of forgiveness and gratuitous grace grasped me in a powerful way. Now, when I confess my sins, I think of this experience of absolution. My dad didn’t take grace “too far.” Rather, he noticed that I was a freaked-out neurotic mess wondering how heavy the wrath of God and discipline of my father would fall upon me. He took on the consequences of my sin and literally paid for them for me.But note - his very language implies conditions there is a condition of being sufficiently "freaked out" and a condition of confession. My story with my father has similar condition associated with it.
So, how can we, as Justin claims, not go too far with grace, if grace comes with these conditions? Does grace extend to the unrepentant? I know in the case of my father, had I not been sufficiently humbled and honest, there would have been a very different result.
Punishment is not for punishment, it is for instruction. Had I been less contrite, my father would have punished me, not out of anger, but because I needed to learn sufficient contrition in the instance.
I certainly think the same holds for our Heavenly Father. I am not going to here try and unwrap that in terms of eternity and heaven and hell, but I am going to take note of its reality. Those who would contend that a loving God would not punish or hurt are just wrong. Such things are, in fact, expressions of love and acts of grace.
Technorati Tags:grace, love, forgiveness, punishment
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator
