A thought by Charles R. Swindoll, from his book, Jesus: 09 (Great Lives Series) (p. 90). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.)
It really is.
Charles says, "It embodies almost every attractive quality we hope to find in others. Grace is a gift of the humble to the humiliated. Grace acknowledges the ugliness of sin by choosing to see beyond it. Grace accepts a person as someone worthy of kindness despite whatever grime or hard-shell casing keeps him or her separated from the rest of the world. Grace is a gift of tender mercy when it makes the least sense."
He goes on, "The Old Testament Hebrews knew grace as chesed, which described God’s unrelenting, overabundant love for people, despite their unfaithfulness. The ancient Greeks understood grace, or charis, as 'that which brings delight, joy, happiness, or good fortune.'(1) Grace begets grace, and Jesus radiated this quality. His invitation, 'Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden,' attracted the very worst elements of society while repelling the most self-righteous. And it won the shunned rabbi a following of fiercely loyal disciples, whom He shamelessly defended.
He continues, "As the city’s moral down-and-outers celebrated with Levi and his new Master, the Pharisees voiced their reproach. 'Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?' (Luke 5:30). The relationship between God and His creatures was the least of their concerns. The Pharisees had a moral caste system to maintain and political territory to defend. It never occurred to them that God might not be pleased with them.
"As Brennan Manning noted, 'Paradoxically, what intrudes between God and human beings is our fastidious morality and pseudo-piety. It is not the prostitutes and tax collectors who find it most difficult to repent: it is the devout who feel they have no need to repent.' (2) That’s why Jesus sent word to the Pharisees outside the house, 'It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance' (Luke 5:31–32)."
Charles then says, "Levi was just the kind of sinner Jesus wanted in a disciple. One honest enough to admit he was deathly ill with the disease of sin and wanted to be healed of it. After Jesus restored Levi’s moral health, He invited him to become one of the Twelve and gave him a new name. From then on, the former Roman collaborator would be known as Matthew, 'gift of God.' "
And that is what grace doses, isn't it? Yes, yes! #continuethought
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