Fighting Grace

I have been thinking a lot about grace lately. Grace is the foundation of Christianity, what diferentiates it from other religions. It says that we can't do what God asks of us, they we are dependant on him. It's a second chance when you didn't deseve it, an opportunity you shouldn't have been given. I watched a movie with the girls not long ago (Mega Mind) in which the super villian is serving 88 life sentances in prison. By the end of the movie, he tires of being bad and becomes the reluctant hero. At which point he saves the city from the new bad guy, and his 88 life sentances magically disappear. True, it was an animated film, not meant to be in any sense true to life. Yet the end bothered me. At first I didn't know what it was. Then I realized: it was grace. He deserved the 88 life sentances. He had earned them. But what he got was a chance to start his life again, to do things better. He recieved grace. And instead of cheering, it rubbed me the wrong way. As I thought back a little, I realized that many times a movie will follow the same idea: the bad guy-turned hero who saves the day and then miraclelously doesn't have to pay for the bad that he had done. It has never sat right with me. It could be that natural desire for justice, that even small children have. How many times did we cry to Mom and Dad, "that's not fair!". But I think there is more to it than that. It's that bent towards legalism, that incredible idea that we can some how deserve God's love. It's that part of us that rejects grace. No thank you, I can do it on my own. In reality, how differnt is Mega Mind than us? We have all messed up. No one is really getting what they deserve. We are showered in God's grace each day as he sends rain, provision, life, the air we breath. One thing I love about Latin America is how people pray. Every pray begins with thanks. And not the selfish thanks for things that we have asked God for, "Thanks for my new cell phone, new house, new car." It's usually, "Thank you for the life you give us, the air we breath, life, our sight, our health." Thanks for all those things you still have even if you are desperately poor. Living closer to poverty can make you a more thankful person (can, but it doesn't always happen). Prayers before meals are equally telling. Here in Panama I learned to pray, "thank you for the food we are about to eat, and please provide food for those who are hungry today." At every meal the poor are remembered. Not a single meal is to taken for granted. We recognize that we are undeserving recipients of God's grace. After thinking all this over, I had to admit my wrong thinking. Mega Mind didn't get what he deserved. But neither have I. I am totally dependant on God's grace.