As part of a recent Faith Element Bible study with my Sunday School class, we were treated to a clip from Schindler’s List. In that clip, Schindler was talking to Amon Goeth about what it meant to be powerful. He had the power to kill and/or torture anyone for any reason, and did kill many. He was considered to be a very powerful man. Yet, his definition of power surprised me.
Power is when we have every justification to kill, and we don't. -Oskar Schindler in the film Schindler’s List
Have you ever thought of power that way? Do you think that is an accurate definition of the word? That definition certainly seems familiar enough, but is not often tied to power. In fact, that matches up pretty well with the definition of grace.
Think about it. God’s grace comes in the form of forgiveness, understanding, and unconditional love. Through our sin, we give God every reason to forget about us, be angry at us, and even destroy us. But in His infinite grace, He offers forgiveness and gives us a chance to repent.
How hard would it be for us to offer such a reprieve? While we usually think of grace as a passive, gentle act, the constitution that it takes to ignore our instinct and opt for love and mercy is often unfathomable.
God is able to offer such unimaginable grace only because of His limitless power. And His power is shown perfectly through that grace. Wow…His grace really is amazing.