subject: Living In A State Of Grace [print this page] Living In A State Of Grace Living In A State Of Grace
On Thanksgiving Day of 2004, Victoria Ruvolo was driving home in New York. From out of nowhere some teenagers threw a twenty pound frozen turkey through her windshield, smashing her in the face.
It would take three weeks in the hospital, eight hours of surgery, titanium plates and a tracheotomy to reconstruct her face. The public demanded justice, and a year later the perpetrator, 18 year old Ryan Cushing, faced Victoria in court. The judge sentenced Cushing to six months in jail. The nation felt he got off easy, until they found out why.
At the trial, Victoria approached Cushing and held him tight as he sobbed. She then told him, "I forgive you. I want your life to be the best it can be." The New York Times called it a moment of grace.'
In the New Testament the term "grace" is used over 150 times. In short it means receiving favor that one didn't deserve. In Paul's letters he uses the term profusely to describe the love God has poured out on people who did nothing to earn such divine favor.
In a world where "I don't get mad, I get even" is a popular bumper sticker, many struggle to comprehend such selflessness.
Almost three centuries ago a man named William Cooper lost his mother when he was only a child. As an adult he suffered a nervous breakdown and attempted suicide. Believing he was cursed he threw away his Bible and turned his back on God.
After his attempt to take his own life failed he was put in a mental asylum where a caring physician assured him that he wasn't cursed, but rather God's grace was calling to him.
Cooper later would share of that moment, "I was so overwhelmed I think I should have died with gratitude and joy. My eyes filled with tears and my voice was chokedI could only look up to heaven in silence, overwhelmed with love and wonder."
Soon thereafter he met a new pastor in town named John Newton. Becoming close friends they would go on to write 349 hymns together, Newton's most famous being Amazing Grace.
As Charles Swindoll shares, "If sin were blue, we'd be blue all over. We'd bleed blue, we'd think blue; we would be flooded in blue."
Thankfully God's grace and forgiveness are greater than all our sin. As C.S. Lewis wrote, "I never had the experience of looking for God. It was the other way around, he found meand I am very thankful that this is how the first meeting occurred."
