“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me; I once was lost, but now I’m found; was blind, but now I see.”
I remember singing that song as a child. I was at primary school in our cold school hall, a line of us in our checkered red and white uniforms, struggling with the high notes. I didn’t understand it, but even then something about it struck me as beautiful.
Years later, as an adult, I first began to understand the world altering thing we call grace. Grace is difficult to explain – perhaps it is best told as a story. This story tells of a man and a bishop. The man was a hardened criminal. He had been placed in jail for stealing bread and had served 19 years for his crime. In the 19 years, he had proved unbeatable in a fist fight. Upon earning his release he set out to find shelter and make a life for himself. Nobody would take in an ex convict. Eventually an old bishop let him stay in the church for the night. During the night, instead of sleeping, the man went through the house and took some of the bishop’s family silver.
The next morning three policemen knocked on the bishop’s door. “We have found this man, and we believe he has your silver!” they said. “We are ready to put him back into the jail where he belongs, and this time for life.”
The bishop responded in a way that no one expected, especially the man. “Here you are!” the bishop said. “I have been looking for you. Did you forget to take the candlesticks? I gave you those too.” The bishop went and fetched his candlesticks for the man. He turned to the police men: “You may let him go. I have given the man these things.”
Grace is God’s unconditional love toward a person who does not deserve it. Grace is wonderfully, surprisingly, delightfully not fair. Grace is the love of God shown to the unlovely; the peace of God given to the restless; the unmerited favour of God.
I always thought Christianity was about being good. So many people do. I thought it meant I couldn’t do things other people were doing. I thought it meant if I had too many drinks or smoked, or went out to a club, I would be judged by God and judged by other Christians.
Often, we have this picture of a God whose arms are crossed while He looks at us with disappointment. Or we think of Him like a father who is critical and who only cares about our performance. Perhaps we see him as a man with a book in heaven tallying all our wrongs.
Grace is not a currency we carry around in our pockets, and every time we do something wrong, God takes a payment until there is nothing left. It doesn’t work like that. Grace is unlimited to us. We can always come back to God, always turn to him for comfort and guidance. We always know that he will look after us.
This is not what it’s about. Christianity, at its core, is about grace. It’s about an extravagant love which wraps you up, supports you, tells you someone cares, and gives you strength for your journey. The story of grace is Jesus Christ paying the cost for us, not so we should be afraid of breaking rules, but so that we may experience love.
It’s one thing to know about grace, but another thing to experience it. When I experienced grace for myself it became more than a song and more than an idea. It became the beginning of a relationship between me and the God in heaven who loves me more than anything. I was blind, but now I see.