Heaping Helping of Grace
September 24, 2015
John 8:10-11 “10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”11 “No one, sir,” she said.“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.””(NIV)
A few weeks ago I was eating at a buffet. There was a table filled with six rather large men. They were getting their money’s worth. They had their plates piled with more food than humanly possible. They went back for seconds. The six of them had unfolded their napkins and tucked them in their shirt top like a bib, and they needed do that. Their second plate was piled full of sloppy seconds. There was food spilling off their plate, on the floor, table, and their bibs. I got to thinking. As Christians instead of condemning the world, we need to do what God does and dish up a big helping of sloppy grace to this broken world. We need to champion the truth, speak the truth about sin, and spread the truth, but we need to do it with a big sloppy helping of grace. Truth spoken without grace comes across as being mean-spirited and condemning, and the truth won’t be heard. People digest truth when it has been flavored with grace. There was a woman who got caught in sin, and Jesus gave her a big sloppy, heaping helping of grace. He told her that she had sinned but then He said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” That woman got grace that day, and I bet you that grace changed her life. Let’s go do the same thing. Speak the truth with love and a big heaping helping of grace.
A few weeks ago I was eating at a buffet. There was a table filled with six rather large men. They were getting their money’s worth. They had their plates piled with more food than humanly possible. They went back for seconds. The six of them had unfolded their napkins and tucked them in their shirt top like a bib, and they needed do that. Their second plate was piled full of sloppy seconds. There was food spilling off their plate, on the floor, table, and their bibs. I got to thinking. As Christians instead of condemning the world, we need to do what God does and dish up a big helping of sloppy grace to this broken world. We need to champion the truth, speak the truth about sin, and spread the truth, but we need to do it with a big sloppy helping of grace. Truth spoken without grace comes across as being mean-spirited and condemning, and the truth won’t be heard. People digest truth when it has been flavored with grace. There was a woman who got caught in sin, and Jesus gave her a big sloppy, heaping helping of grace. He told her that she had sinned but then He said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” That woman got grace that day, and I bet you that grace changed her life. Let’s go do the same thing. Speak the truth with love and a big heaping helping of grace.
– Dr. Tim Thompson