The Scandalous Concept of God's Grace

For those who do not know the “Good News,” or the “Gospel” of Jesus Christ, the concept of Grace is beyond their comprehension. Why would God do something like that? What kind of screwed up love would make a father sacrifice his only son?

Here is a true story that might help you to understand what God has done for us. In 1898, there was a man whose job was to operate the raising and lowering of a railroad bridge that spanned a certain river in England. He would raise the bridge so that larger boats could pass underneath. And of course he would keep the bridge lowered so that the regularly scheduled trains could pass as necessary.

As the story goes, one day this man forgot his lunch at home. Thinking that it would be a nice treat for her son to visit his dad, his wife gave the lunch to the young lad and told him to take it down to his father in the Lift Station. As young people often do, the boy got distracted. Apparently, a boat had taken longer than anticipated to pass underneath the bridge. As the man quickly grabbed the leavers to lower the bridge for a train that was about to arrive, he noticed his son, down by the river, playing in the lowering mechanism. What to do? Lowering the bridge would ensure the death of his son. Not lowering the bridge would kill many if not most of the two hundred commuters on the train. There was no time to warn his son. There was no way to warn the engineer. A decision had to be made.

The father lowered the bridge. He sacrificed the life of his one and only son, to save the lives of many. As the train went roaring past, the father, with tears streaming down his face cried out to those whom he saw idly reading their morning papers on the train, “How can you ignore what just happened? Your lives were saved at the cost of my son’s life!”

Of course, this story is not a perfect comparison. As did Jesus, in relation to us, the boy did not die with the desire to save our lives. Nor did the people on the train have to make a decision about the importance of the boy's death as it pertained to their future. In fact, unlike the death of Jesus, those on the train did not even know that a sacrifice has been made. One thing is certain however. If you think that disregarding Jesus’ sacrificial death on your behalf isn’t deeply disturbing to God the Father, you need to think again. Accepting God’s offer of Grace, by placing your faith in Jesus, promises beauty beyond imagination. Ignoring or mocking that sacrifice means horrific consequence beyond description. This is not a threat as some imagine it to be. This time around, the Father has given us a WARNING. He has given us time to move from our place of dangerous complacency. It can only be prudent to heed such a warning.