A League of Our Own

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16

On some level I have always known what mercy and grace meant but this morning I read the words that brought its powerful message home. “Mercy is being spared from the ill that is deserved and grace is being gifted with good that is undeserved.” What powerful definitions with unattainable responsibility on our part. It is one thing to show mercy through forgiveness to someone who has wounded us but to go one step further and do something for their good is another.

One amazing example of mercy and grace exemplifying Christ is the case of the gunman at the Amish school up in Penn. I found this article written by a woman regarding the manner in which they responded to the gunman and his family. These ambassadors of mercy and grace not only had children at this school but reached out to society to appeal to our sense of forgiveness.

“My thoughts and prayers remain with the innocent Amish victims in Nickel Mines, PA. I was traveling on the day of the shooting and heard the news with a sense of surreal disbelief. I simply couldn't realize it at first. Upon fully grasping the enormity of the horrific crime, I desperately longed for the solitude of our farm that I might privately grieve and pray for those gentle people, the dear children deeply terrified and shocked - the poor victims who died; the sad, shocked, grieving victims who survived.

Never has my heart been so humbled as by the forgiving attitude of the Amish community and families who personally lost so much and yet extended such tender concern even to the family of the gunman. What an extraordinary example they gave us all. To have such deep abiding faith, to really live the true meaning of Christ's message of forgiveness, without a grudge, was such a remarkable act of Christian love that it will inspire me for a lifetime.”

This attitude is only possessed by those who confidently approach God to receive their own mercy through a spirit of humility and look for grace where grace should not be. Most likely none of us will be faced with forgiving someone of such a horrific crime but we will be faced with forgiving family for something much smaller, or forgiving an ex-spouse for his role in the failure of the marriage, or forgiving a child for the bad decisions they make in their life. Forgiveness is only half of the equation if we are really trying to walk in a manner worthy of Christ.

It is extending that extra good after the forgiveness that puts us in a league of our own – God’s league.