This past Tuesday, I attended the funeral of Homer Edmonds, a long-time and faithful member of the Evangel Baptist church family. His passing was met with much grief and sorrow, but also with much celebration. He was a faith-filled man who had placed His trust in Jesus Christ alone. And the story woven throughout the service was that the grace of the Gospel was continually on display in his life. He was the kind of man who loved others like Jesus and lived what he preached.
He was the real deal. He lived the Gospel life. His daughter, Debbie, beautifully painted this picture for us as she relayed a story about Homer’s irrational, Gospel-oriented grace….
One day Homer went out for a drive, and it just so happened that a young woman accidentally hit his car, while he was parked. The woman quickly jumped out of her automobile and immediately asked him to not call the police or file a claim with his insurance company. Instead, she said, “let’s exchange our contact information and after you get an estimate for the repair, I will give you a check for the work.”
Well, after he collected an estimate from a local collision shop, he contacted the woman and arranged a time to stop by her home to pick up the amount for the repair. Later that afternoon Homer drove out to her house and pulled into the driveway. But something made him pause for a moment and then, strangely enough, he decided to turn around and drive back home without picking up the check.
Upon his arrival back home, Homer told his wife, Janet, “Dear, I just could not walk up to that house and take that woman’s money after seeing her terribly poor living conditions. I just couldn’t do it. And you know what? You know what I think I’m supposed to do? I believe we should go back to her house not to take a check from her but to bring her one. And that is just what he did…
Irrational grace: The kind of love and kindness that doesn’t make any sense to normal human goals or plans, but instead leaves the Gospel as the only explanation (cf. 1 Peter 3:14-18). This is gospel-living – displaying the totally unexplainable grace of God and offering it to people who will be driven to ask us, “WHY??”
Sure, Homer deserved that check for the collision work. Certainly, the woman deserved to pay for the damage she had caused. But grace says otherwise. It’s underserved, unearned, and free for all to receive.
How will you be as gracious as God is…today?
In Christ Alone,
Michael
