52 Little Lessons from It's a Wonderful Life by Bob Welch

Author:Bob Welch
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2012-08-17T04:00:00+00:00

26

The Greatest Gift You Can Give Is Grace

Here, Ed. You remember last year when things weren’t going so well, and you couldn’t make your payments? You didn’t lose your house, did you? Do you think Potter would have let you keep it?

—GEORGE BAILEY

GRACE—UNDESERVED FAVOR—IS A BAILEY TRADEMARK. Think about all the times George or his father grants grace to other people. George’s druggist boss slaps him so hard his bad ear starts bleeding. Goodness! If not an assault charge, that’s a lawsuit waiting to happen, but George understands the man’s anger: “You got that telegram.” Peter Bailey’s Building and Loan customers owe him money, and Potter wants him to foreclose on them, but Peter overlooks their debt.

George follows in his father’s footsteps in this regard. In trying to get the people to understand that they’re safer keeping their money with the Bailey Building and Loan than getting fifty cents on the dollar at the bank, George suggests that one reason to do so is that the Baileys believe in grace and Potter doesn’t: “Here, Ed. You remember last year when things weren’t going so well, and you couldn’t make your payments? You didn’t lose your house, did you? Do you think Potter would have let you keep it?” The Baileys routinely do something for others that they don’t have to do: give them favor that, legally, they aren’t bound to do.

How about grace when it comes to Uncle Billy and the eight grand he lost to Potter? Granted, his nephew roughs him up a bit when the old coot can’t find the dough, but after George flees the family on Christmas Eve and goes to Potter for a loan, he lies to protect the guy. “I’ve just misplaced eight thousand dollars,” he tells Potter. “I can’t find it anywhere.” George takes responsibility for the lost money and, in so doing, lets Uncle Billy off the hook.

Grace is the foundation of the Christian faith. Jesus’ granting us grace by forgiving our sins flies in the face of virtually every other religion, which operates on a you-getwhat-you-deserve basis. But Jesus says, in essence, you don’t get what you deserve. You get what you don’t deserve. You’re redeemable even if you’ve blown it.

Against the backdrop of such amazing love, the biggest shame of the Christian faith is believers who’ve been granted such grace but who, in turn, treat others without grace. No mercy. The template for such behavior is outlined in Matthew 18. A king wants to settle his accounts with his servants. A man who owes him ten thousand talents, about $1 million, is brought before the master. Because the servant can’t pay, he’s told that he and his wife and children will be sold to repay the debt.

“Be patient with me,” the servant begs, “and I will pay back everything.”

The master takes pity on him, cancels the debt, and lets him go.

The servant’s response? “He found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii [a denarius was a day’s pay, so one hundred days’ pay].

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