By Tal Prince

Recently, I had the privilege to speak at our nation’s largest maximum security prison. Angola State Prison houses 5200 men who have committed some of the most horrific acts imaginable – and I loved them. All of them have been at crime scenes – and some their lives are crime scenes.

As I hung out with inmates, walked the camps and death row, I was struck by the tangible presence of grace in this place. One inmate said to me, “They didn’t arrest me – they rescued me.” When I asked him to explain that, he said, “Jesus was waiting on me in this cell. I had to come here to meet him. Tal, I had to come to prison to find freedom.” Let that sink in for a second…

So, how are you with hardened criminals? How are you with the thought that God extends grace to criminals? It’s not really anything new for him –

Take a look at the first homicide in history – it appears in Genesis 4. Cain is guilty of murdering Abel, his brother, in the first degree. God had warned Cain that sin was out to get him and that he needed to master it. Cain’s jealousy festered into anger, which developed into rage, which led to murder. Big sins always start out small, don’t they?

When God walks into the crime scene and attempts to elicit a confession from Cain, but Cain never confesses. God passes a swift sentence on Cain and takes from him the one thing he knows how to do. Cain is now a farmer with nothing to farm. Cain actually then has the nerve to complain about the harshness of his sentence, and then we see the fingerprints of Grace at the crime scene. God places a mark on Cain’s head to warn everyone not to kill him.

I believe we can find a trace of Grace at every crime scene in the Bible. Grace is always there if you look for it.

The fact of the matter is that we are all criminals. Let’s be honest, that’s sin really is, right?. We like to call it disobedience, or even better…we love to use “Christian-eze” and call it sin; which we define as “missing the mark.” That’s easy to feel better about isn’t it? It makes it sound so cute. “Oh, I was so close! I tried so hard, but just barely missed the mark by an inch!” How does it feel to know that we are not simply bad marksmen, but we are, in fact, criminals?

Think back over the crime scenes of your life. Can you see the traces of grace? Look hard! I promise you, they are there, whether you were a victim, or the perpetrator. We are all criminals – no better, or no worse than anybody at Angola State Prison. We are fugitives from the law, and both Grace and the Law are in hot pursuit of us. Eventually we have to surrender our lives to one or the other.

If you’re like me sometimes you believe that your crimes are unforgivable. They are too awful for Grace to accept. Not true! Just look at the genealogy of Grace! Look at Matthew 1 – I know – you have trained yourselves over the years to never read genealogies in the Bible, but look! Adam is there…he committed the first crime and brought about the fall of man, Abraham a criminal with a record of fraud is there, Jacob is there, guilty of fraud and assault and battery. Judah is there, guilty of solicitation of a prostitute. Tamar, that very prostitute is there. You say “A prostitute in the bloodline of Christ!? NEVER!” Guess what – she’s not even the only one! You don’t see only sterling citizens in the bloodline of Grace. Jesus was the spotless lamb, but He has a very spotted bloodline. There are criminals all through it! In fact, Grace chose murderers to write most of the Bible! Moses was a murderer, and a victim of child abandonment, but Grace used him to write the first five books of the Bible. David was a murderer and an adulterer, but Grace used him to write most of the Psalms. Paul murdered followers of Grace for crying out loud! But Grace used him to write the bulk of the New Testament. Grace redeemed them all and used them to tell his story!

Tal is the founding pastor of Tapestry of Hope in Birmingham, Alabama and a recovering sex/porn addict. Tal has been in recovery for nearly 10 years, and is passionate about helping others break free from the chains of addiction through engaging in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Tal is married to Teresa (gorgeous!) and they have two beautiful girls (completely adorable!). You can find Tal on his blog, Facebook, Twitter, or (my personal favorite) his weekly Sirius radio show “Tal Prince Live”.

Check back later today for Part 2

You can read all of the posts in the Grace Week Series here.