“If there was anything of man’s bringing, which was not of God’s bestowing, though it were never so small, it would overturn the nature of grace, and make that of works which is of grace.” (Samuel Bolton; The True Bounds of Christian Freedom, p.94)

Grace, what a profound word, with such far reaching and weighty significance.

So often when I ponder the meaning of God’s grace towards me a certain scripture verse pops up in my mind where Jesus says,

“…But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”(Luke 7:47)

This is a portion of a verse where Jesus is trying to convey to those sitting down to eat, that the woman in question washing Jesus feet with her tears and wiping then with her hair is a believer who has genuinely understood the far reaching wonder of God’s grace in her heart. In her unpretentious overflow of gratitude she did not try to suppress her display of homage and honor spilling over her soul in a demonstration that stirred all those in the Pharisees house with subtle indignation.

Jesus well perceived the thoughts around the table as He pointedly – purposely asked His host:

“Simon I have something to say to you,” (and he said teacher, say it) “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii and the other fifty. And when they had nothing in which to pay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?”     

Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “you have rightly judged.” (See Luke 7:36-50)

 The obvious lessons of life, at times evade us until they are brought back to us in high definition. We often time – by our very thoughts and actions tend to see things like Simon, who saw through his natural eyes a sinful woman stepping over the boundaries of propriety and decency and we miss the bigger picture. In contrast we see ourselves as better than or not quite as sinful as that woman – convinced that we have only little or nothing to be forgiven for by God. Perhaps, we might admit, with a little coaxing – some minor inconsequential petty little debt owing?

Possibly, we forget or even more disturbing is the fact that some of us may have never come to the place of seeing ourselves totally bankrupt, spiritually penniless, an immeasurable sum due to the Master, an amount we could never repay.

Simon and friends could not relate to this brimming exhibition of love and gratitude. This women knew she was so far into sin and spiritual ruin that there was no tangible hope for her until she met Jesus Christ. An awkward moment? Maybe to the religious mindset who in contrast to her saw their debt as insignificant or even non – existent?  Being good upstanding religious men keeping to a form of outward godliness, never for a moment realizing the veil of pride that kept them from truly discerning the depth of their own personal spiritual corruptions. 

The moment (and there will be many along our journey with Christ) where we will catch momentary glimpses of our true self- absorbed condition — failing to appreciate the wonders of God’s grace. The God who reaches ever so far down to us to not only wipe the slate clean but to also provide that which we can never repay, never merit; our priceless salvation in Christ alone and an open door providing us with an enduring relationship with God, un-paralleled on this earth.

When the grace of God is truly understood, accepted and embraced into our souls, though we may all express it differently outwardly it should ignite the fires of our affections for God. For the man, women or young person who recognizes the true state of their existence and their inability to change or correct their destitute condition, similar to the women in the story – how can we not stop adoring such a wonderful Savior?

The tangible fruit and expression of God’s grace in our lives is gratitude. Its absence is an indicator that perhaps we still cannot see any real reason to be thankful. It may also prove to be an indicator that WE have come to our successes or well- being by our own strength and wisdom. For Simon and his dinner guests it was strictly by the book! Tell me what to do and I’ll do it! A kind of earn your own way. God is indebted to ‘me’ because I keep the commands, follow the laws, and keep clear of the sinful crowd.                     

 God! You owe me! 

The perceptible fruit of legalism or living by the law reveals itself in pride and self –righteousness. In essence, it sees oneself as basically good and deserving of whatever blessings being bestowed upon oneself. Pride rules the house in this scenario, its host victim remains unable to free themselves from its clutches- unable to admit their desperate internal need. Pride furthermore blinds a person similar to smoke in one’s eyes — limiting a  clear and unobstructed view of their impoverished spiritual condition expecting from God not grace or mercy but the reward or recompense for their diligence, service, sacrifice, discipline, giving, faithfulness and yes even their obedience.

One with this mindset cannot begin to perceive why they should be thankful since by all accounts there was no debt owing none to forgive –they uphold their end of the bargain so in their view it’s a well- deserved, well – earned blessing when it’s finally comes.

Tragically another scenario being played out in these modern times of ours is a distorted perception where many believers who view their identity in Christ in a twisted kind of way. Though grace may be heralded from their lips as truly amazing, in contradiction to their statements their positive convictions and hyper faith belief system elevates them into a well- deserved ‘favored’ place to receive the fruits of their faith NOT as gracious blessings or gift from a wonderful Father but as recompense for their confident trust in their ability to believe. In fact many times the boldness and arrogance of this misplaced faith does not ask or even appeal to God, it demands it! How tragic!  

The true grace of God lavished upon our lives is not obliged by anything we do, and on the other hand it is not withheld from us by any lack or shortcoming on our part or what we fail to do. We can never place God in the position where He is somehow required to give to us, bless us, or love us. Nor do our chronic failures diminish his lovingkindness or hand of blessing upon us.

Martin Luther wrote in his exposition of Deuteronomy 8:17, 18;

 “Blessings that at times comes to us through our labors and at times without our labors, but never because of our labors; for God always gives them because of His undeserved mercy.”

For every true born again believer, God’s grace only continues to be ‘the more’ marvellous and amazing. Along the journey we will have ample time to really see the true depth of our depravity reinforcing once again the fact that God’s grace does not make up the difference based on the accumulation of our good works. For any attempt on our part to add by our human endeavours some merit in return for His grace — tells the story that we have missed the grand lesson of scripture that all our works are as filthy rags.        (Isaiah 64:6; Rom. 7:18; Eph.2:1, 2; Titus 3:3)

Abraham Booth (1734 – 1806) wrote over two hundred years ago:

“The most shining deeds and valuable qualities that can be found among men, though highly useful and truly excellent, when set in their proper places, and referred to suitable ends, are, as to the grand article of justification treated as non- entities…

For divine grace disdains to be assisted in the performance of that work which peculiarly belongs to itself, by the poor, imperfect performances of men. Attempts to complete what grace begins, betray our pride and offend the Lord; but cannot promote our spiritual interest. Let the reader, therefore, carefully remember, that grace is absolutely free, or it is not at all: and, that he who professes to look to salvation by grace , either believes in his heart to be saved entirely by it, or he acts inconsistently in affairs of the greatest importance.”

Let us also remember that this grace is not only the grace of salvation alone but equally important the limitless grace for the sanctification and consecration of every believer unto godly character, righteousness, holiness – maturity — for every season of life.

In the blossoming of our new love in Christ we have all more than likely been intoxicated with gratitude, thankfulness and appreciation of what God birthed within us at our initial salvation experience. In those early moments we were in fact like the woman in Luke chapter seven, overwhelmed, at such mercy; we who were lost, broken and fractured in so many ways and to such depths. Jesus found us in our sin and not only forgave us but placed His Spirit within us making us children of God.                                                                                                  

Oh the love that drew salvations plan!
Oh the grace that brought it down to man!
Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span,
At Calvary. (Verse 4)
(Refrain)
Mercy there was great and grace was free;
Pardon there was multiplied to me;
there my burdened soul found liberty
At Calvary.
(William Reed Newell; lyrics from the old hymn ‘At Calvary’)

Oh, that we could maintain this love, this spirit of gratitude!

There is also one more aspect that I would like to tie to God’s abundant grace, in fact the stark realism of His eternal love was secured for us as Jesus hung on a cross at Calvary.

Jesus went to the cross to pay a debt He did not owe, and we owed a debt we could not pay. His sacrificial offering of His life opened the floodgates of God’s mercy and grace to all who come by way of that cross. This precious grace, this wonderful freedom is tied directly to the cross.

We must come to the cross to admit our guilt, our sin, our debt, our desperate need. To truly appreciate God’s grace is to recognize our true internal condition. To rightly discern and admit that we are indeed bankrupt is to open the doors of God’s infinite mercy to cascade into our souls cleansing away the filth – forgiving our sinful debts and bringing us into an intimate relationship with God for the first time or in moments of renewed repentance. Mercy there was great and grace was free and God’s pardon was multiplied to me and like the woman in our story her burdened soul found liberty—At Calvary!

Tragically, over time and albeit many trials and adversities the possibility remains; have our hearts slowly become distant, rigid, and cold? So often we forget our moments at the foot of the cross where Christ lifted us up from the mire. Those were the days, we say, ‘our Song of Solomon moments with God’. Those frequent visits with God have maybe, faded into the background. Church activities may still continue be our primary focus but perhaps what has changed is not so perceptible.

The business and machinery of the church, the many new voices and winds of doctrine blowing through the nations are in themselves so often a distractions and a distortions of what truly matters and genuinely important. The obvious past obstructions of keeping religious traditions by the book and earning your way have been replaced by the less conspicuous encroachments of success, prosperity, recognition, popular distinction among our peers, acclaim, and notoriety – reputation.

We may now claim, ‘Hey I am somebody!’ I have paid my debts, I am giving back to the church, to society, and I give to the needs of many less fortunate. The truth is — the more successful we become, whether it be in secular circles or in the ministry of the church, the snare is always there and in fact more dangerous and less detectable. When we rise to success in any endeavor, the blinding smoke of pride seems to always be close at hand to rise up and subtly whisper in our hearts ‘look at you, look at what you have accomplished, you have worked so hard, been so diligent, God is well pleased with you, this is His reward for your service and all that you have done…for His Kingdom.

It is hard to sustain a spirit of gratitude towards God when we think (not necessarily speak it out) that what we are, what we have become has been directly connected to our diligent forging ahead, the results of skill, spirituality, wisdom, talent or fortitude. We see little of God in the picture, we feel we owe no one for our achievements. God is simply blessing ‘our’ accomplishments!

Simon you gave Me no kisses nor did you give Me water to wash My feet but from the moment I came into your house she has not stopped kissing My feet, she has washed them with her tears  and anointed my feet with oil.

This was a teaching moment for the group, where the Savior of all men — without pointing the finger at anyone or  words of condemnation begins to unearth and expose the contrasting and concealed heart attitudes in the room in order to highlight what they themselves had already ‘judged rightly’ in regards to Jesus piercing question.

Kisses, tears, and the best oil for Jesus? Sounds radical doesn’t it?

It’s an in depth snapshot into the heart of a person who knows their eternal ruin, with all the dimensions of darkness and despair that go with it and then – one day ‘Jesus Christ’ steps into that morass and chaos setting us free and cancelling the debt in one sweeping motion with His unconditional grace. How indescribably sweet!

This should be our perpetual song of praise for the freedom and liberty extravagantly granted to us. The tribute and applause that should ever be fresh — ready to be released.

So, the next time, in those circumstances and places where the woman or man next to me becomes overwhelmed with gratitude over God’s goodness and reacts in some emotional display of tears or shouts of praise and thanksgiving to God, I pray that in that instant my love for Christ will also be triggered and once again realize and remember how much I have been forgiven, cleansed from debt.

Seeing their exhibition, not through the eyes of a Simon but as Jesus seen it, for what it truly was:

Shameless gratitude for unmerited grace!