Where’s the Grace?
This is a question I get often as an educator and
administrator. Parents whose children
have done something wrong want to know why the school does not show grace in
their child’s situation. For some odd
reason, this question reminds me of an old Wendy’s commercial. The question sounds similar to a question
from that commercial several years ago when a lady asked, “Where’s the beef?”
as she looked down at her fast food hamburger.
I guess if I try real hard, I can pull some similarities between the two
questions and look at some underlying undertones of the two statements. In essence, the question here is,
“What is the meat of the matter?”
“Where is the substance?”
Are we really focusing on a total dependence on God or are
we just wanting something to satisfy our wants in a particular situation? Only the person asking can truly answer that
question because that is a question of the heart. However, I would like to make
a few points about this question that we so easily dispense in many situations
- no matter how important or trivial the situation is. So I submit to you what I feel is at the heart
of the matter and the true substance behind this question of, “Where’s the
Grace?”
According to Romans 3:24 Grace is a free gift. It is not earned. There is no amount of money in the world that
would purchase Grace. There is no amount
of good deeds we can do to earn Grace.
However, there was a price paid for us to receive Grace even if we did
not pay that price.
And it came at a great cost.
Blood was shed. A body was
bruised. Flesh was ripped. It eventually
cost separation from God – a loneliness we cannot even fathom. All of this so we could receive something we
didn’t deserve.
I must admit, it bothers me a bit when someone comes to me
expecting, demanding or even asking for Grace.
Not that I haven’t done the same myself, I am just learning now that it
is something not to be taken for granted.
But as my flesh moves me to expect leniency, or expect forgiveness, or
ask for mercy, I now try to think about the price paid for this gift that I am
desiring. When I was 7, I received a
helmet for Christmas that didn’t have my favorite team on it. I was upset because I had asked for something
else and didn’t get it. At the time, I
didn’t think about the price my parents had to pay for the helmet. I only thought about what I wanted and the
disappointment when I didn’t get what I wanted.
In my mind my desire is to respond to this question like
this.
“Do we really know what we are asking?”
“Do we really realize what we are wanting here for our
child?”
“Are we really willing to put Christ to public shame to
protect our child?”
Every time we sin, Hebrews 6:6 says we are “nailing Him to
the cross again and putting him to shame.”
Should we really ask for
Grace? As Paul would say, “May it never
be!” We don’t have to ask for it because
it is already there. We don’t need to
expect it because none of us deserve it.
So what should we expect when our child gets into trouble at
school?
It would be fair to expect a consequence based on what the
school policy says. If a lighter consequence is administered, then that should
be considered a blessing. Again, I want
to point out that Grace should never be expected because it is beyond what we
deserve. Therefore, anytime we receive
less than what we deserve we should be grateful.
Grace is also not the absence of consequence. When Nathan called David out for his sin with
Bathsheba, God made it clear that He stilled loved David and showed him mercy. However, God also outlined the consequence of
his sin. As we read on in 2 Samuel, we
also see later consequences of David’s sin in his family.
Therefore, it is a fair expectation that the school will
love your child through their consequence and strive to help your child when
they are in trouble. A school should
work with students to the best of their ability and use the resources
available. When your child’s school can
no longer help them, they should work with parents to move them into an
environment that can.
Since our children are human, they will experience sin. As a result of that sin, they will become
broken at different times in their life.
This is life in a fallen world.
It was evident with kings like David. When you read Psalms 51, you see just how
broken David is about his sin.
We will all be humbled at some time in our life. The question is will we humble ourselves or
will God humble us? God breaks us down
to build us back up. He did it with
David. He did with Peter. He did with Paul. He did it with countless people in the Bible
and he does it with us today. I am not a
big Michael Vick fan but I see similarities between him and King David. Watch this video and see
how he found himself broken.
Our children need to learn to work through brokenness. They need to be broken at times and learn the
strength to be built back up from us as educators and you as parents. This is why a strong partnership between a
school and a parent is so essential.
Unfortunately, this is what is wrong in education today. That partnership is broken and our children
are not prepared for a world that Satan uses to destroy us. Satan’s goal is to leave us in our brokenness
and stay in a life of despair.
In the end, this is the meat of the matter. This is the substance behind what seems like
a simple question of, “Where is the Grace?”
The Grace is in the individual administering discipline - a
person who will love them through the consequence. It is not in the consequence or trying to get
the person administering a consequence to take it away.
The Grace is that we have a God that loves us and brings us
to Him even though we are not deserving to even bow at His feet and pray to Him
much less receive blessings from Him.
The Grace is that a Savior died a horrible death and paid a
tremendous price so we could spend eternity with Him.
Therefore, that Grace should not be taken for granted or
taken lightly.
