Hug of Grace

   
    The worst feeling in the world is knowing that you've let someone down. There is a certain agony in the waiting - standing by, powerless, as a person decides whether or not he will forgive you. The feeling multiplies because you know you don't deserve forgiveness.

    I betrayed a close friend of mine not long ago. I didn't tell him, but instead waited, hoping he would never find out. I sort of knew that he eventually would. He did discover my dishonesty shortly thereafter, and he confronted me. All the excuses I had stored up were suddenly useless. There were no words that could remedy the damage I had done to our friendship and to his trust.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

   One day that friend came to me and gave me a hug. He told me that he had decided to forgive me. He said he cared about me too much to let me go because of one mistake. His forgiveness felt great, but it also made me feel guilty. It seemed too easy, too quick and definitely undeserved.

    What I experienced is called grace, and it's God's gift to us. God loves us dearly; we are his most prized possessions. We take his love for granted daily and betray him with a constant stream of sin and deceit. The best part is, He still loves us. We certainly don't deserve it, but he gives us forgiveness anyway. He not only moves on, but he forgets our sins just as soon as he forgives them.

    Grace is a hard thing to grasp, but just think of it as God's make-up hug.