Who Deserves Grace?

Kerusso Daily Devotional

Corrie ten Boom made a decision at the height of World War II. She would hide Jews from the Nazis in her Dutch home, and she was found out. Surviving the war, she told people for the rest of her life about God’s grace. Though her sister, Betsy, died at the notorious camp called Ravensbrück, Corrie survived.

One night two years after the war, she found out just how meaningful grace really is. After she had spoken to a group of Germans, a man approached her. She then realized that he had been a guard at Ravensbrück. He told her that her talk was very meaningful to him, and that since the war he had become a Christian. He put his hand out and asked her for forgiveness.

Not so easy to acknowledge, Corrie realized. For an eternity of seconds, she couldn’t make her hand move, but when she did and reached for his hand, she said it was like an electric current running through her arm. She told the former guard that she did forgive him, and that single act made all the difference.

Ephesians 4:7 says, “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of the gift of Christ.”

In our lives we want grace, but we struggle when God gives that same grace to people we feel don’t deserve it. But that’s the point of grace as we’ve already discussed. God’s grace is favor given that is not deserved. We can’t do anything to receive it. The Lord offers it for free.

Maybe you haven’t done anything in life as bad as that Nazi guard, but the Bible says that God hates sin, and sin comes in many forms and we’re all sinners. It was Alexander Solzhenitsyn that said, “The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.”

In a sense, underneath it all, we’re all that camp guard. His horrific sin was out in the open and the pain of that time still affects people, but a woman he persecuted decided to model the love of Christ in forgiveness and that was a moment of divine grace. The Bible is full of stories of God giving His grace freely to people who are broken in one way or another. Our loving Father gave it to them free of charge, the same way He gives it to you.

Let’s pray.

Father God, sometimes we just don’t understand. Injustice bothers us. Please help us to see that you look on all of us—everyone—with compassion. You gave your son to pay the penalty for the sins of people the world over. Help us to see others, God, the way that you see them. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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