I have an ugly confession to make.
Sometimes I’m a jerk.
For example, when I watch sporting events.
It’s not about what is happening on the field, court, rink, or track…
It’s about what is happening in the first few rows of spectators, in the good seats.
Very often, I will be watching a game with my wife and I will see a little kid sitting on the front row and I shout…
“WHAT A WASTE!!”
I think…
Why is a kid sitting in that sweet seat?
They aren’t even paying attention!!
They are throwing popcorn around and acting like a child!
“WHAT A WASTE!!”
They didn’t EVEN pay for that ticket!!
They don’t even appreciate what they have!!
I know, I’m a jerk.
It makes me so mad that some kid is sitting in seats that I can’t afford.
I didn’t stop and think about the fact that the kid can’t afford those seats either!!
That kid DIDN’T pay for that ticket! They are obviously there BECAUSE of someone else. Someone who cares enough about them to get them a seat. It was a gift.
Why do I have a problem with that?!
I was pondering all this and I realized that my thinking is pretty messed up.
It’s petty jealousy on my part.
I can make comparison a competitive sport.
“Excuse me, I couldn’t help but notice that you don’t deserve to sit THERE!”
I don’t recognize the fact that I don’t deserve to sit THERE either.
Here’s the deal that I often lose sight of, the REAL waste is NOT that a 6 year old gets to sit in the nice seats.
The REAL waste is that 2 rows behind the kid there is an EMPTY seat.
The only way that the tickets are wasted is if someone doesn’t use them.
We can apply this same messed up thinking to love, faith and matters of grace too…
We see people who mess up and keep coming back to God to ask for forgiveness.
We think WHAT A WASTE OF GRACE!
When will they get their act together?
We grumble about how that person doesn’t appreciate what they have.
God has forgiven them over and over for the same thing.
WHAT A WASTE OF GRACE!!
Jesus, the originator, practitioner and dispenser of grace said this…
“Why worry about a peck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?” (Matt 7:3)
Maybe…
It’s time for me to get the log out of my eye.
It keeps me from seeing the game.
I have to remember some things…
I didn’t pay for my ticket, I’m only in the stadium because God loves me enough to get me a seat.
Sometimes I misuse the seat, sometimes I don’t appreciate it, I’ve fallen out of the seat a few times. The ticket is still mine.
I don’t get to decide who else gets a ticket.
I don’t get to decide who sits where.
None of us deserve the seat we are given.
That doesn’t make it a waste.
That makes it a gift.
Grace is only wasted when it’s unused.
The only way that the tickets are wasted is if someone doesn’t use them.
The only way to waste grace is to never reach for it…
WHAT A WASTE!!
So, go ahead…
Take your completely undeserved seat in the stadium that grace built.
High five your neighbor and share some popcorn with the kid in the front row.
carbonated joy 