What If, Perfect Grace?

Choose one characteristic of God's personality and describe how this characteristic would appear in your life if you were as perfect as God created and requires you to be.

(Class assignment)

Grace. This particular character trait of God’s personality absolutely confounds me. I am mystified by the perfection of His grace toward mankind and what that should exactly look like in my own life. Though intrinsically impossible, when I imagine displaying perfect grace as God does and requires of me, I can only think of one scenario: Adopting a child out of life of complete poverty and despair. I imagine a child that is scarred by the pain of loneliness and rejection, harboring distrust, anger and hostility. I imagine a child that is marred and undesirable. His parents have discarded him for mere convenience' sake. I imagine this child wallowing in mud along with the swine at an attempt to bathe himself. He doesn’t even know that he should belong anywhere else. Survival up to this point has depended on his ability to lie, steal, cheat and fight his way through life. This is the only identity he knows up until…

I come along, manifesting God’s perfect grace, swoop this child out of his current conditions, bring him into my loving care, and claim him as my own. After holding him in my arms for a while, I take him home and clean him up. Though he is still very skeptical of the genuine nature of my love so he continues to lie, cheat, and steal. He has never had anyone protect or provide for him, much less show him an ounce of love. I take time to explain to him God’s extravagant love and grace as I am displaying it in his life. In spite of his reactions, I continue to lavish my love on him by spending hours each day sitting with him, listening and telling him how much I love him. I give him a room in my house to call his very own with toys to play with and new clothes to wear. I take him to school and church to meet new friends and learn new things. I help him with his homework and cook nutritious meals for him to eat. No matter his response to my love, I continue to give and give and give. Though my heart aches because he doesn’t return my affections, I continue to lavish it upon his undeserving little soul. It is perfect grace that enables me to love something deemed so unlovable and undeserving. My love toward this child is what you call unconditional love. He did nothing to earn my love nor did he go so far as to ask me to love him. In fact, he turns his back on me and is unresponsive to my love at times. Though my heart aches for the return of his affection, God’s perfect grace will not allow me to withhold good from this little child.