Grace

Our church is taking a special Christmas Eve offering. All the money that is given we go to help a man in Goochland County get running water. It’s hard to believe but there are about 20 homes in Goochland without running water. You have to dig a well, have a drainage field, the plumbing and some other stuff. We are calling this, “It’s Not Your Birthday Offering” because its not our birthday so why should we get all the gifts?
On Thursday I got to meet the person whom we are doing this for. I was excited about meeting him but I left the meeting discouraged. He is a 47 year old man who appears to be in good health and in his right mind. Yet he does not have a job and does not appear to be too worried about it. I just had a bad vibe about it. As we were leaving I felt surely there has to be someone that is more deserving than this man.

Later that night as I was reflecting on the situation I felt God speak to me in that still small voice, “what if I gave you what you deserved? What if I failed to extend to you my grace and love because of your laziness or lack of gratefulness?” Also I don’t know everything about this guy’s story and my assumptions could be way off. Wow was I convicted. And as I was reminded, if anybody in this world is in need of grace it is me. It is amazing to me how easily I fall into the sin of judging others while failing to look at my own self. As Tim Keller says, “we are more sinful than we ever dared to believe and we are more loved than we ever dared to imagine.”