What does Grace look like

Conservative late night talk shows are enjoying a considerable amount of attention because there is a possibility that some of the 270 detainees in Gitmo may be released to live in America. If you believe the late night pundits you might think that all 270 are scheduled to move to someplace like Palm Springs or The Hampton's and live in Luxury condos at taxpayer expense. All this hub bub from a comment made by Eric Holder that some may be allowed to live in the USA ...how many ..unknown , where , unknown , details unknown ...that it may be a possibility ..known.

I have been thinking about this for sometime today ...on several different levels. The first is the most obvious why get upset with this news when so little is known ? Lets get the facts before we drag out the rope , tar and feathers and other playthings of the overly excitable. I had planned to write both a Secular response and a Christian response to this discussion , but I think only one is needed and that is the Christian Response:

Matthew 21 : 22-35

Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times."Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents[g] was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. "The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go."But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded. "His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' "But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. "Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
for some a non sequitur alarm must be going off , but wait !!! Think of it this way ...aren't all of us at war with God ? What do we deserve from God ? Do we deserve the basics of life ? Is God required to sustain us ? to provide for our food and our shelter ...we turned away from God ...the wages of sin is death . We have no rights as far as God is concerned , even the foundations of Human Existence were because of HIS good will and pleasure ..and it gets much better than that ...even while we were enemies of God He choose to save us ...not because of what we have done , but because of what He has done ...we call this Grace ...Unmerited favor ...we will live with Him in his home for eternity , all of us who were once at war with Him and those of us myself included who despite His grace still sin.

We are called to be Living Epistles , what does that mean ..that we turn our backs on God when the Crow calls out , when its inconvenient , or unpopular ?

Before its said and it will be said ...it would take a great deal of courage to offer to have one of the Gitmo detainees live in your home , in your neighborhood ...I am not sure I would have that much courage ...but I hope that I would be encouraged by others in the faith to at least be forgiving , to love mine enemies as God has loved me ...

And of course this is an extreme situation ...its like another parable I heard in a sermon once ...it was about a man who arrived home to find his family horribly murdered ...the man had a choice to find the killer and kill him in return , that would be revenge ...Or he could trust in the authorities to find the man , prosecute him and execute or incarcerate him , that would be Justice ...Or he could find the man and offer to let the man live with him in the house the Murderer defiled ...that would be Grace ...

While simply stated this is a story that has a much deeper meaning ....God actually does that for us ..who by our Sin , was the cause of the Death of His Son , and God in spite of that Sacrifice of His precious son ...has prepared a place for us in His Kingdom ...

I do not believe that I would ever have enough courage to take a murderer into the home I share with my In Laws ...but I do pray I would have courage to stand up for one who would ...I would also pray that each of us encourage one another to have such courage ...to show the world what Gods Grace looks like on Earth. It may not be popular , you may not be invited to alot of bunko parties and Superbowl games ...you might even get a Canadian Application for Citizenship emailed to you ...but God never said it would be easy .

In the past few months I have realized that I need to surround myself with such encouragers ...people who are unafraid of the consequences of preaching the Gospel of Forgiveness and reconciliation ... I have made that my prayer and I am so blessed to be meeting such people ..If we can't bring ourselves to engage a terrorist perhaps we can engage a homeless man , or a cranky neighbor , hire a paroled felon , or worse yet a Liberal .

For copies of the Secular response you can send a check or money order to ....( name and address withheld out of fear ) it will come in a plain brown envelope with Prominient American Flag adorned stamps :)