Freely You Have Received, Freely You Shall Give
“God has given us an unlimited bank account of grace to spend on forgiving others if we would just start writing checks to them!”
Lately, I have been thinking about the tension between justice, mercy, and God’s grace. We’ve heard the slogan, “Hate the sin, but love the sinner.” Even though we should love the person, it doesn’t take away the fact that a sinner committed sin. What are we to do with those bold sinners in our lives who will not humble themselves before God? They have no remorse, no humility, and are completely unaware of their sin. Are we, as Christians, supposed to be the sin police? This transcends moral and ethical leanings to even preferences. Maybe you’ve asked yourself, “Why won’t my non-Christian neighbors just believe in Jesus already?”
Being an Evangelical Christian in today’s age is a fine balance between love, freedom, wisdom, and obnoxiousness. We are certainly free to engage or disengage with others about the great news of our amazing salvation given to us (NOT of works, but of GRACE). Grace has a LOT to offer everyone we interact with. Obnoxiously beating our neighbors over the head with the gospel until they accept God’s grace is not evangelism. But we do want to show them the benefits of God’s grace somehow and in some tangible way.
Go be imperfect.
How can we be intentional to share our faith with others AND just love them as they are? Is it possible to love people who hate God, us, or just life in general? Even if they are scandalous, offensive, or rude to us? This is the difficult work of a Christian and while there are plenty of lost souls, how do we extend God’s grace to them? Well, look no further than Christ who gives us the freedom to be imperfect in our witness! Thankfully, when we try, He will accept and receive our work with undeserved love and favor. He takes us as we are and makes us better (more like Him).
But what about Justice?
Not that we should neglect to enforce justice and fairness in our society, but we should do away with anger and choose to love while enforcing the good. (Ecclesiastes 7:9, Proverbs 12:16) Our job is easy, we are to love others indiscriminately while allowing room for God’s justice. No one is more offended with sin than God. (Colossians 3:5-6) Take action to restore the good, correct the wrong or stop the evil. Do not harbor hate, anger, or malice in your heart against the sinner.
Christian Grace
If anyone should understand and accept the consequences of living in a broken world it should be the Christian. After all, our Savior, Jesus, experienced the frequent suffering we complain about and the deaths that we mourn. And He suffered and died to save humanity from the same corruption we see in our society today. He was crucified, buried, and raised from death to redeem poor sinners.
So why are we so shocked to find them to be our neighbors, our friends, family, or church members? Sin should not shock us as much as undeserved grace should. We don’t love sinners because they deserve it, but because God is generous. We forgive sinners because we were forgiven 100 times more than we deserve. (Matthew 18:21) God has given us an unlimited bank account of grace to spend on forgiving others if we would just start writing checks to them!
This week, try it and see how you feel when you go out of your way to bless those who don’t deserve it! If we put away our anger and offense, we are repaid many times over with more freedom, happiness, and joy in our lives. This is how we show God’s grace to the world. This is what makes an effective witness, and this is how the world knows that we belong to God. (John 13:34-34) “Freely we have received and freely we shall give.” (Matthew 10:8)
Jake is a new intern here at Redeemer. He currently serves God and country while attending seminary at Dallas Theological. He lives in Fate with his wife Leanne, two children, pug and cat. He enjoys lots of caffeine, learning interesting things and people. You can contact Jake HERE!