Now That's Justice, Mercy and Grace

http://www.thisistrue.com/

One of my favorite email newsletters to receive is from Randy Cassingham. This is True is a weekly e-mail newsletter which reports on bizarre-but-true news items from legitimate news outlets from around the world. Each story ends with a comment -- a tagline which is humorous, ironic or opinionated (or with luck, some combination of the three).

Every week Randy tickles my funny bone and challenges my brain with his tagline quips. This past week was no different. This is from The Premium Edition of This is True #865: 9 January. I think it is a perfect example of Justice, Mercy and Grace.

PUSHOVER: A 63-year-old man from Manila, Philippines, was in line to buy a lottery ticket when a woman cut in front of him. He did the gentlemanly thing, stepping back and allowing her in. The ticket she bought -- that would have been his -- wasn't a winner. The ticket he ended up buying, however, was: 741 million pesos (US$17 million). "When he won, he kept thinking: how sad for that woman," said Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office chair Margie Juico, "She could have won the big prize if she had just been patient." (MS/AFP) ...Chivalry not only isn't dead, it sometimes pays quite well.

Now you might be wondering why I said this is a perfect example of Justice, Mercy and Grace. Well, the Mercy is shown by the 63-year-old man who did the gentlemanly thing of stepping back so the pushy woman could cut in front of him. He could have protested and made a scene. But his heart was such that he didn't and was actaully saddened by the fact that she could have had all that money if she hadn't been so pushy.

The Justice, of course, was the fact that she didn't win. And the Grace, well of course it was the $17 million dollars he won simply because he was polite. While I don't want to laugh in sardonic glee because she DIDN'T win, I do want to shout for joy that the nice guy was rewarded. It might not have been Divine Grace but it was a form of Grace none-the-less. And that kind of thing always makes my day.

Blame Someone Else Day

According to one of the calendars I check, tomorrow, January 13th, is National Blame Someone Else Day. Why anyone would set up a special day to blame others is beyond me but it did get me to thinking. We have been doing this since the creation of humanity. As long as Adam was a solitary figure everything was fine. He was lonely but he hadn't found anyone else to blame stuff on because it was just him. He wasn't bright enough to blame God. That didn't come until after the incident with the apple.

God, being the compassionate loving God which God is, saw Adam's loneliness and created Eve. I realize I wouldn't be here writing this if things had stayed the same but maybe . . . No, we like to blame others. We don't like to take responsibility.

Let's look at the whole apple incident. God created Adam and then Eve so they could be companions together in this life. But then one of the disgruntled, actually the chief of the disgruntled angels, decided that what God had done wasn't right. Maybe he was jealous that Adam and Eve were getting more attention than him. Maybe it was because of his own vanity. He did think he was the most stunningly beautiful archangel ever. I never have understood the serpant's motivation.

Anyway, if you remember God had said everything in the garden was theirs to use and eat except for the fruit from two trees: the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The serpant knew that by eating from the apple of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil he could ruin this young couple's idyllic existence. I'm mean really, if he couldn't have it, no one should, right? At least that's what I think he was thinking.

So, the serpant tempts Eve with the forbidden fruit. "Oh, go ahead. It's delicious. No one will know. It'll be our little secret. Besides once you eat you'll be just like God." Now I have a bone of contention here with most commentators and writers. Most assume that Adam was off doing guy stuff and Eve was just puttering around in the garden on her own. I don't find that to be the case, Scripturally. Adam was right there by her side. Eve was a stone cold fox and he wasn't going to leave her side for anything. At least not yet. Now he may have been doing the inactive listening which most men do, which is to ignore all the chatter. He may have been looking for the remote or checking for sports scores or whatever. He was there but he wasn't paying attention. He didn't do his job of protecting her.

Eve, probably thinking that because Adam hadn't said anything, thought it was OK. We do that you know. Because no one has said we can't do something, we assume we can. Or maybe Eve just fell fully for the huckster's charm. Whatever, Eve bit. And then, with juice running down the corner of her mouth, turned to Adam and said, "Oh, wow, you've got to try this. It is SOOO good." So, Adam, still looking for the remote, took a bite and wham, everything changed. Their eyes were opened up; they looked at each other in surprise, discovered they were naked and ran in the woods to "Hide."

The next day God comes walking through the Garden and immediately notices a change. Everything just seems about a half a bubble off. Adam and Eve are nowhere to be found. Then they come out in their ridiculous clothes. God's reaction was less than pleased. But God did ask the ultimate question. Whose idea was this?

Since Adam was created first and had the deepest relationship with God, God asked Adam first. It wasn't because Eve was a woman as some speculate, as if women were inferior not equal. It was a matter of courtesy not heirarchy. But what did Adam do? With dried apple juice still on his chin, Adam pointed at Eve and said, "Not my fault. She made me do it!" Whereupon Eve pointed at the serpant and said (Not unlike Flip Wilson's character Geraldine) "The devil made me do it, honey!" And thus began the steady flow of blame.

What we need to remember is that NOT EVERYTHING IN THE BIBLE is supposed to be emulated. God wanted and still wants honesty. God wants us to take responsibility for our own actions. If we can't admit when we are wrong, then there's no room for forgiveness. If we can't admit that we have done something wrong in the eyes of God, then what's the good of repenting? There's nothing to repent. And that's where we make our mistake.

So, here's the challenge. Fess up to your mistakes. Be honest with yourself. Celebrate this day NOT by blaming someone else but by taking responsibility. It may very well be the single most pleasing thing to God ever. Try it, you'll be pleasantly surprised how light your heart and soul feel. And how close to God it brings you. Be a rebel today. Celebrate by doing what's right and taking responsibility for your own actions NOT blaming someone else.