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Monday, August 29, 2011

Earning Grace

For the third installment of POTSC's Never Beyond poster series, we have
Darth Vader.

I asked a friend of mine what he thought of the famous villain.  "He sort of redeemed himself at the end."
He did give his life for Luke.  That's a pretty big deal and, I think for many fans, it makes Darth Vader even more of an epic character (if not the best villain ever).

It's true, when someone who's a pretty bad person sacrifices and does an act of kindness, we look on them much more favorably.  We think maybe they'll do more good things in the future.  Maybe their hearts are melting.  Maybe they'll come around.

But what if they don't.  In fact, what if they never did that first act of kindness.  What if they stay in their evil actions and harmful decisions.  What if they don't earn that second chance.

Do they still deserve it?
More importantly, would you still give it to them?


"For all of us have become like one who is unclean, 

And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; 
And all of us wither like a leaf, 
And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away." 

Isaiah 64:4 tells us that none of our good deeds earn us a thing.  Yet God still gives us second chances?  He still gives grace?  Hold up, He gives it abundantly?  Yes, friend.  Yes, He does.

Let us continue to press on to become more like the Forgiver.  He knows we don't deserve anything but condemnation even if we've given up our lives for another.  Without pure, unadulterated, righteousness, there is no  holiness.  Praise to the Lord for offering His Son as the sacrifice we need!  His perfection covers our ugliness and our evil.

Darth Vader redeemed himself in almost everyone's opinion, right?  With God, none of us can earn our redemption, but He steps in and gives it to us freely.
What a gift, this grace.

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Join the movement to overthrow judgment and liberate love.

7 comments:

  1. Wow! It's amazing that we can't earn our forgiveness from God, but we have it anyway. Unconditional love. None of us deserve a second chance, but we all get one...or two...or multiple.

    This is a great post for POTSC! Thanks for sharing it. :-)

    Andrew

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  2. Wow...what if they don't come around? That is a great question. There is nothing we can do to redeem ourselves and that is not easy to take in a culture where we are all about the doing. He is the one that steps in. He is the one and only one that can redeem us. Gosh, how our pride should fall if we truly believed it is Him and not us! Thanks for your post.

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  3. Beautiful. What a lovely explanation of grace!

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  4. SO thankful I don't have to earn my second chance!! Thank you for sharing some hope!

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  5. This is a great post! Thanks for the reminder that there is nothing I can to do earn forgiveness and grace, that I have it unconditionally! I think a lot of the time this is something that is easy to forget, especially when we catch ourselves making poor decisions and needing redemption. It's so easy to feel undeserving of a second chance, and yet we always have one. Sometimes it just seems too good to be true. <3

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

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  6. Well said...we can't earn it because it's a free gift for us that cost Him everything. Thanks for your post! That is so opposite all of my thinking and natural tendencies. I want to work for it, to earn it...but's it's already been done. So grateful...

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Thank you for sharing your thoughts! If there is something you want me to respond to specifically, feel free to send me an email; I'd love to chat.