"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." Ephesians 2:8-9
I sat in a courthouse today and read about juvenile law for about an hour. I was struck by how much discretion is given to prosecutors and judges when children are being tried for crimes and delinquent acts. The research article I was reading made the point that we need these discretionary systems in juvenile law if we want to rehabilitate the children that can be rehabilitated and if we want to protect society from the children who can't be rehabilitated. The hardest part about juvenile law is figuring out who can be rehabilitated. The jury is still out on that one...
When I read Ephesians chapter 2 today, I was struck by the fact that we, as sinful human beings, are considered dead as a result of our sin. On our own, we cannot be rehabilitated. But God, our Judge, had mercy on us. He sent Jesus Christ to suffer the consequences of our sins (and to raise again) so that we have the chance to be rehabilitated. Ephesians tells us that we could never be rehabilitated by our own works. Instead, our rehabilitation occurs when we have faith in God--when we believe that He has extended His grace to us through His Son.
That is truly amazing grace! Can you imagine a human judge telling a convicted criminal that he can be acquitted because the judge's innocent son will serve the criminal's sentence instead? And then not even requiring the criminal's free status to be probationary or contingent on his future actions? That is never going to happen in our justice system.
I'm so thankful that God is rich in mercy and love. And I'm so glad I have been rehabilitated in Christ!
No comments:
Post a Comment