I was a just-married seminary student in Wilmore, KY. I had just left class and was driving home in my white 1993 stick-shift Ford Ranger truck when I came to a stop sign. I tapped the brakes, slowed down to about five mph, and (as is usually the case in small-town Wilmore) seeing no one else on the road, I turned right.
Blue lights in the rear-view mirror. I pulled over.
The cop came up and got my license and registration. He went back to his cruiser, and he didn't seem to be in much of a hurry. Wilmore.
During the long wait time, I had time to think about it. I was a full-time student, just graduated from college, and my wife was a nurse. We weren't exactly one-percenters. We lived in a cheap duplex in a dingy neighborhood, and by all accounts to pay this ticket would mean that we would be eating fish sticks and hot dogs for the next month with Ramen noodles for dessert.
The cop finally came back to my window, handed me my license and registration. He noticed my books and asked, "Are you at the seminary?"
I said, "Yes sir."
He said, "I am too." Hopefully he was quicker turning in his papers and assignments than he was running license plates. "I'm going to show you something called grace," he said. With that, he handed me a warning. No ticket. Just a warning.
Now, anyone but a seminary student (or minister) would be overjoyed at that and wouldn't think twice about it. However, I had a problem with what he said.
What he showed me wasn't grace. At least, it wasn't what God tells us grace is.
In order for that situation to be true Biblical grace, the cop would have had to look at me and say, "Mr Kibler, you disregarded a stop sign. That will be a $75 fine and three points on your license."
I would say, "I don't have $75 and I'm already over my limit on points on my license."
He would say, "Yes, I know that. You can't pay it. So, I found another driver who has never had a ticket, who has never had any points put on his license, and he voluntarily of his own free will paid the fine and took the points on his own license. His bank account will be deducted, his insurance will go up, and the points will be on HIS license for three years."
I would say, "That's insane! Who would do that for me?"
And the cop would look at me and say, "Me."
Simply letting an offender go isn't grace. The law isn't satisfied. A debt has been incurred, and simply letting an offender go won't settle it. Grace is when the very person who has the right to punish chooses not to, and instead take the punishment on himself, satisfying the law and letting the offender go free.
That's true grace. That's the kind of grace Jesus demonstrated when He went to the cross and died for the sins of the world. He took our debts upon Himself, paid them in full, and set us free from the consequences of them. We, in turn, are called to surrender all things under His Lordship.
So the cop was wrong that day. He didn't show me grace. He showed me kindness, but that's a lot different than actual grace.
When we realize all that Christ has done for us, how can we do anything but give our lives to Him in gratitude? True grace cost Jesus everything He had, and that which was expensive for Him cannot be cheap for us.
Blue lights in the rear-view mirror. I pulled over.
The cop came up and got my license and registration. He went back to his cruiser, and he didn't seem to be in much of a hurry. Wilmore.
During the long wait time, I had time to think about it. I was a full-time student, just graduated from college, and my wife was a nurse. We weren't exactly one-percenters. We lived in a cheap duplex in a dingy neighborhood, and by all accounts to pay this ticket would mean that we would be eating fish sticks and hot dogs for the next month with Ramen noodles for dessert.
The cop finally came back to my window, handed me my license and registration. He noticed my books and asked, "Are you at the seminary?"
I said, "Yes sir."
He said, "I am too." Hopefully he was quicker turning in his papers and assignments than he was running license plates. "I'm going to show you something called grace," he said. With that, he handed me a warning. No ticket. Just a warning.
Now, anyone but a seminary student (or minister) would be overjoyed at that and wouldn't think twice about it. However, I had a problem with what he said.
What he showed me wasn't grace. At least, it wasn't what God tells us grace is.
In order for that situation to be true Biblical grace, the cop would have had to look at me and say, "Mr Kibler, you disregarded a stop sign. That will be a $75 fine and three points on your license."
I would say, "I don't have $75 and I'm already over my limit on points on my license."
He would say, "Yes, I know that. You can't pay it. So, I found another driver who has never had a ticket, who has never had any points put on his license, and he voluntarily of his own free will paid the fine and took the points on his own license. His bank account will be deducted, his insurance will go up, and the points will be on HIS license for three years."
I would say, "That's insane! Who would do that for me?"
And the cop would look at me and say, "Me."
Simply letting an offender go isn't grace. The law isn't satisfied. A debt has been incurred, and simply letting an offender go won't settle it. Grace is when the very person who has the right to punish chooses not to, and instead take the punishment on himself, satisfying the law and letting the offender go free.
That's true grace. That's the kind of grace Jesus demonstrated when He went to the cross and died for the sins of the world. He took our debts upon Himself, paid them in full, and set us free from the consequences of them. We, in turn, are called to surrender all things under His Lordship.
So the cop was wrong that day. He didn't show me grace. He showed me kindness, but that's a lot different than actual grace.
When we realize all that Christ has done for us, how can we do anything but give our lives to Him in gratitude? True grace cost Jesus everything He had, and that which was expensive for Him cannot be cheap for us.
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