The wonderful grace of Jesus

I received a phone call today and we talked a good bit about how marvelous the grace of God is and how undeserving we are to receive it. That conversation reminded me of a story another pastor had told recently.

This pastor told a true story about one of his church members, an attorney, who after meditating on several scriptures, decided to cancel the debts of all his clients that had owed him money for more than 6 months. He drafted a letter explaining his decision and its biblical basis and sent 17 debt canceling letters via certified mail.

One by one, the letters began to return, unsigned and undelivered. Perhaps a couple people had moved away though not likely. 16 of the 17 letters came back to him because the clients refused to sign for and open the envelopes fearing that this attorney was suing them for their debts.

So here’s my point in telling you this story. We humans owe a debt for our sin and God is willing to cancel it. But far too many people will not even open the letter (the Bible) that explains that. I think they fear reading about a God who is ready to discipline them and as I used to say as a child “beat the fool” out of them. But the reality is we find a God willing and ready to forgive every sin we have ever committed by simply placing our faith in the sacrifice He made on Calvary’s cross.

For those of us already a child of God, perhaps this story best illustrates our need for grace. In 1818 one out of six women who had children died of something called "childbirth fever." A doctor’s daily routine back then started in the dissecting room, where he performed autopsies, and from there he made his rounds to examine expectant mothers. No one even thought to wash his hands...at least not until a doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis began to practice strict hand washing. He was the very first doctor to associate a lack of hand washing with the huge fatality rate.

Dr. Semmelweis only lost one in fifty, yet his colleagues laughed at him. Once he said, "Childbirth fever is caused by decomposed material conveyed to a wound...I have shown how it can be prevented. I have proven all that I’ve said. But while we talk, talk, talk, women are dying.. I’m not asking for anything world shaking, only that you wash your hands." Yet virtually no one believed him. And Jesus is not asking anything earth shaking from us. John writes, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." We only need to confess our sins, to regularly wash our souls before God. It’s essential. The failure to confess our sins will result in spiritual infection that will hinder our ability in the spiritual journey.

Is it time to “wash”?