A few days ago I was sitting in the living room with the dog when my son pulled into the drive. I knew it was him as my other two were at cricket and he was due home from work. The dog barked and jumped up to look out of the window, as he always does when one of our cars comes onto the gravel. I then heard a noise I didn’t recognise that was like a dull thump and, after processing it for a moment, I thought he must have driven into the wall! I hurried to the front door, upon which my son was now urgently knocking!
I opened the door to see his forlorn face…
“Mum, I’m so, so sorry…” he said, over and over again.
It turned out it was not the house he’d driven into but my car! He didn’t see it (though it was parked in just the same place as usual) and reversed straight into it. The driver’s door had a very crinkled indent and had dropped a bit so it didn’t quite shut properly at the top. Praise the Lord it still opened and closed and locked ok!
The funny thing though, was that I felt completely calm and inert, as though nothing had even happened! All I could see was the shocked face of my little boy saying, “Mum, I’m so sorry!” and I just wanted to hug him!
As I thought about this later, and marvelled at my lack of anger, annoyance or indeed ANY negative emotion I thought… this is how Father God sees his children. Sometimes we mess up, do silly things, or even wilful and rebellious things at times, but when we run to him crying out, “Father, I’m so sorry…” all he feels for us is love. He doesn’t condemn us or feel anger towards us. Sometimes, of course, there are consequences in this realm, but his love towards us remains the same.
My son’s consequence is that he has to pay for my car to be fixed – but he is still my son and I still love him!
We are saved by grace, through faith in Christ alone. It’s a free gift that we cannot earn – we just need to receive it because there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. Our performance may often be imperfect but our position is secure. Once born into God’s family, we cannot be unborn! He is always our Father. That’s why it’s called Amazing Grace!
The Finished Work 