Dr. Pepper and Grace

Once a week I grab a newspaper from the convenience store, along with a Dr. Pepper and sometimes a snack.  Yesterday was no different.  To me, an ice cold Dr. Pepper is like a remedy for a broken day.  When work is frustrating, drink a little.  When conflict is looming, take a gulp.  As I sat yesterday enjoying my refreshing drink and reading through the top stories in the San Antonio Express News, though, I realized how much of an imbalance was present.  With every sip of DP, I would read two or three stories about murder, or rape, or terrorism, or some other senseless crime.  And I realized this one important fact: there is not enough Dr. Pepper in the world to fix these problems.

A solder on trial for murdering Afghan civilians.  A man on trial for killing a mom and her two daughters in their home.  Another man on trial for the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart.  A senseless beating and murder of a young man in Atlanta.  A Muslim cleric calling on adherents to destory Americans.  A child sex ring in Minnesota.  Drug cartels and murders in Juarez, Mexico.  The list goes on and on and it just reveals how evil and wicked and disgusting this world has become.  When usually I would drink a Dr. Pepper and relax and watch the problems fade away, it just doesn't seem like that approach will ever heal these issues, because at the root of all of it is one simple yet so complicated theme.

Depravity.

I look at the condition of the world today and I clearly see how depraved mankind is.  Sinful.  Wicked.  Wretched.  I know that the only solution to the problems surrounding us is the Gospel, Jesus, salvation, grace.  But then I wonder, just like my realization about the Dr. Pepper: is there enough grace to fix these problems?

I don't mean to imply that God is running low on grace and may soon run out, leaving millions of sinful and evil people to rot in their filth.  What I am implying is that there is sadly a shortage of grace being spread around, being shared, being proclaimed.  People will continue to live in sin, will continue to practice evil, as long as they never hear the Gospel.  Grace has to be given before it can be received.  But the tragic thing is that alot of Christians today don't give it, don't show it, don't even live it.  Most of the time, they live and talk and act as if God is low on grace, or is at least stingy with it.

We see the stories on the news, we read about them in the papers, we may even have first hand encounters with them, and our first instinct is to respond with disgust and contempt and judgment.  But what about grace?  What about love?  What about Jesus?  Think about what the Savior Himself said:

"It is not those who are healthy who need a phsycian, but those who are sick."

Matthew 9:13

Jesus had just been criticized for eating with "sinners" instead of spending time with the more "holy" Pharisees, and this was His response.  He made a pretty logical, common sense statement: healthy people don't need doctors, but sick people do."  Makes sense right?  In the same way, "righteous" people, people who have it all together, who always get it right, don't need salvation.  But sinful people?  That's a different story.  Sinful people are in desperate need of a Savior, even if they don't realize it themselves.

All the people in our world who are guilty of all those crimes I listed and the many more you can undoubtedly list, are the "sick people" Jesus was talking about.  They are the broken ones.  They are the depraved ones.  But before we begin to write them off, as did the Pharisees, let's remember one important statement: such were some of you.  (1 Corinthians 6:11)

God has shown us grace.  He has saved us.  We didn't deserve it.  Some of us were chronic liars.  Some of us were addicted to pornography and lust.  Some of us were fornicators.  Some of us were murderers in our our hearts, hating our brothers.  The only difference between them and us is that we have been washed and they haven't.  The Bible tells us that our hearts are desperately sick and Jesus says that out of our hearts proceed evil and wickedness. Such were some of us, could have been some of us.

God offers grace and forgiveness and unending love to anyone who will accept, even the murderer, and the guy who runs the sex ring, and the drug cartel boss who feeds drugs to children, and the town drunk.  To all of them, Jesus says, "Come."  What are you saying to them?  Are you giving grace?  The truth is, there is enough grace to fix the problems of our world.  The murdering can stop, the drugs can disappear, the war can end, if Jesus is allowed to penetrate the darkness and change lives.  Are you letting Him use you to do it? 

Grab a Dr. Pepper.  Go into your world. Give grace.