Crime of Grace Part 2
By Tal Prince
Read Part 1 of this post here.
Some of you may be caught in a web of deception, others may be caught in the trap of pornography, others may be struggling with drugs or alcohol, and still others may be guilty of verbal assaults and gossip. Some of you are struggling with food – too little, or too much. You may be a victims. Victims of gossip, sexual abuse, abandonment, or other hit & run crimes. But Grace is there at your crime scenes too! Just like it was for Joseph, and just like it was for Moses!
Corrie Ten Boom, author of The Hiding Place and victim of Hitler’s concentration camps, once said, “There is no pit so deep, that God’s love is not deeper still.” Grace loves us PERIOD. It has nothing to do with what we have done, or not done, or what’s been done to us! That’s the point…we do not deserve it! We do NOT deserve it. Grace follows, in it’s relentless pursuit of us, through all of our crime scenes. Grace puts his fingerprints there so that the law will chase Him instead of us. Grace throws the law off our trail. That’s what Paul wrote about in Colossians 3:3. If you have turned yourself into Grace, you are hidden in Christ! The Law and the Prosecuting attorney cannot find you! Grace takes the rap for you!
How does he do that? Jesus, the Son of God, became crime.
Christ became human, while yet remaining God. Why did He do this? Well, it all originates in Genesis 3 in the garden. Adam and Eve brought crime into the world, and separated man from God. We were all created for fellowship with Him, and that fellowship was broken by our crimes. Ultimately, justice had to be served, and that is what Christ came to earth to do on our behalf. We do not deserve that, but that is what Grace is all about. Grace is unwarranted favor from a superior to an inferior. We can say that Christ is the embodiment, the very personification of grace.
When we follow His life, we see that He never committed a crime, although He did hang out with criminals all the time. In fact, crime is not committed in the presence of grace, when those around are truly submitted to Him. That’s what makes Peters assault with a deadly weapon in the garden of Gethsemane so shocking when the soldiers came to arrest Grace. But immediately there is Grace cleaning up the crime scene, tenderly touching the ear of Malchus, that Peter had just lopped off, and making him whole again. Have you ever noticed that none of those soldiers arrested Peter for his crime? Peter’s crime was erased when Grace put His fingerprints all over the crime scene.
The law chased Grace all through the Gospels, and it chased Him down the Villa De La Rosa and finally chased Him up skull hill. Allen Levi wrote, “A darkened hill He walked upon, a bloody battered fool. He’ll deal with death despite the doubts, and shouts of ridicule. See him lay his bleeding back to capture us from hell, to pay a debt he did not owe our dirt beneath those nails.”
How does it do that? Wasn’t Grace killed on the cross? Didn’t Grace die? The law did kill Grace. The law was satisfied with the crucifixion, but the story does not end there! No, Grace rose again! With the power of the resurrection, Graced killed the law! Grace became our crime, and served our time. Then Grace was released from the prison of death by the power of the Holy Spirit! Grace served the time for all time! We don’t have too! Mercy no longer has to make installment payments to justice! NO! Jesus Christ, the embodiment of Grace paid it all!
We are ALL wanted by the Law, BUT we are ALL also wanted by Grace! Grace has chased us all the way from the Garden of Eden. Grace has visited every one of our crime scenes, and wants to turn them all into scenes of His victory and His Glory!
We deserve to be caught by the law, but we can turn ourselves into Grace and be hidden in Christ so that the Law cannot touch us! We don’t deserve it, but that’s Grace.
I’m just thankful that Grace loves criminals – like me.
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”.
Hello Pastor Tal,
After looking over you web site, I thought that you might be the perfect person to share this information with.
“1 in 6″–that’s how many men have been exposed to some form of sexual abuse. Yet as believers, we are so willing to ignore the vast number of hurting men in our churches and families. The following will tell you a bit about Tom Edwards and his commitment to Healing A Man’s Heart.
Thomas Edward knows first-hand the emotional and physical pain associated with sexual abuse and neglect. He understands what it’s like to suffer in silence with nowhere to turn. And he’s passionate about helping other male survivors heal from the aftermath of their abuse and move from surviving to thriving.
Tom wrote Healing a Man’s Heart, a workbook designed to help Christian men face, admit, and deal with their abuse. He says, “I wrote this workbook for men who are stuck just like I used to be—men whose hearts long to be set free, but fear dampens and steals any ray of hope.” His goal is for men to become comfortable addressing the issues within them and eventually arrive to a point of breaking the silence.
Tom also conducts “Healing Broken Men” workshop retreats, which are great for participants to start or continue their healing in a safe, private, and supportive environment. Workshop sessions include losing the victim status, removing the fear factor, destroying lies and myths, repainting your picture with truth, and reclaiming God’s identity for you.
For more information about Thomas Edward, the Healing a Man’s Heart workbook, or the Healing Broken Men workshops, visit http://www.healingbrokenmen.com or contact Gail P Smith, gottatellgail@yahoo.com