I think we as Americans have an entitlement-mentality. We think we’re owed so many things, like an 80-year lifespan, a spouse, a house in the suburbs with the white picket fence and the 2.3 kids (don’t you always feel bad for that .3 kid? He’s not even a complete person!) We think we’re deserving of a satisfying career with a nice retirement package. We think we will work hard so that one day we can sit back and live the easy life and spend our grandkids’ inheritance money.

What we really deserve is hell.

As harsh as that sounds, it is the honest truth. We’re all born sinners and we know deep down we’re fundamentally messed up. We didn’t have to learn to be selfish or to lie or to steal; we just instictively knew. My natural bent is not to be nice or giving or honest. I am by nature selfish and stingy and a liar. You are too, if you are honest with yourself.

That’s where grace and mercy come in. Mercy from God means I don’t get the hell I deserve. Grace means I get to live and that I get to know God and have Jesus take the punishment I deserve. It means I get eternal life, not just down the road in heaven someday, but right now as a life that’s abundant. It means that while most of the world is on autopilot and asleep, I am waking up to the beauty of God’s creation all around me and the amazing things God is doing in and around me.

If we admit we are messed up and that everything we have and are is a gift that we don’t deserve, that means we show grace to each other. No matter how badly I mess up or hurt you, you forgive me because you have done much worse to God and been forgiven far more times. Regardless of how you treat me, I still strive to show you the love of Christ, because He pursued me with His love when I only showed hate to Him and ran away from Him.

My love for God shows itself in my love for His people. I can’t say I love God and not love His people. I can’t call myself a believer and then bail on His followers the first time they fail. In fact, I look most like Jesus when I forgive and show grace and give multiple second chances, because that’s what He does best. When I am called to imitate Christ, I am callled to do these things. When the life of Christ fills me up, I am able to do these things.

Jesus, fill me with grace so I can be gracious to others. Give me Your heart that forgave those who murdered You as they were in the very act, so I can forgive anybody of anything. Let me be mindful of all the many second chances You’ve given me, so I can give those who fail as many chances as You gave me.

Amen and amen.