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Grace and Truth

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
John 1:17 (ANIV)

It’s sad that truth and grace come as a surprise to us… Or even as an annoyance!
I was getting diesel yesterday and found that the tills in the service station kiosk (curious word that give the size of these places now) were staffed by two of the least competent assistants on the face of this earth… They will have many other laudable qualities but manning tills is not their thing… But just as I was finally getting to the head of a very long queue, a woman who had just left the shop came back in and squeezed ahead of me to inform the assistants that she had paid the wrong amount… a smaller amount than she should have, and that the older lady in front of me was going to be hit for her much larger bill… This of course sent the assistants into a tail-spin, and me, the fine, gracious, truthful Methodist minister that I am, into a huge huff of annoyance that this lady’s honesty was going to hold me up even further. Why could she not just have pocketted the change and done a runner like I presumed 90% of the population would do…But on more measured reflection I give thanks for her honesty (as I am sure the elderly lady does)…
She didn’t have to do it… But to be true to herself she did…
God didn’t have to do it… But to be true to himself, he did…

Again, this started as a response to someone elses blog in Mockingbird's Leap as they reflected on being surprised by the grace of another.
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