Around the 1920s, an event occurred in Sweden that several preachers have used as an illustration in their sermons. The event vividly shows what grace means for our lives. It is about a young girl who had reached her teenage years and was starting to become a bit snobbish. She thought her mother's hands were so ugly. She wanted her mother to wear gloves when they walked together in town. One day the mother stood still and looked at her hands, and then began to tell her daughter about an incident that had taken place a long time ago.
She told how a little brother and sister had been alone in a house. One of the little ones came across a box of matches and lit it so that the room started to burn. The children's clothes also caught fire and caught fire. The firefighters arrived and saved the little boy, but the girl was still in the burning house. At the last moment, a woman came to the scene and made her way through the sea of flames. The hands that grabbed the little child's body and protected it became burned and blood red. Then the mother held out her hands to the vain girl. — It was these hands that saved you and became so ugly.
Deeply moved by the strange story, the young girl had tears in her eyes. Deeply moved, she took her mother's hands and said: — These are the most beautiful hands I have ever seen!
From that day on, she did not want her mother to hide her hands from anyone. What she had previously been ashamed of became her favorite sight.
Anyone who has experienced Jesus in their life no longer sees the cross as a disgrace. A true experience of salvation makes one love to contemplate the story of Jesus' suffering. The cross, which was previously a symbol of disgrace and contempt, has become a sign of love and grace. Let us, however, be aware of how this love was created in our hearts. The apostle John explains the context in a moving way: "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10).
The experience of Christ is the very cause of this love. Your heart overflows with gratitude to God, who did not spare his Son, but who, in clear understanding of our lost condition, sent him into a world of hopelessness and need. His hands were pierced for our sake. (Isa. 49:16). Around this axis functions the whole Christian life. The love of Jesus has its starting point in his love for us: "We love, because he first loved us." (1 John 4:19).
From this realization, the whole life is transformed. If we love Jesus, we will also love one another. By loving our fellow men, we also gain fellowship with them. This fellowship is not conditioned by social conditions: "Therefore from now on we know no one according to the flesh." (2 Cor. 5:16). This sentence explains why sincere believers have fellowship with one another regardless of their background. The fellowship of the saints is something that the natural man cannot comprehend. Spiritual values transcend cultural barriers. It is a phenomenon for all who try to understand the Christian life from human assumptions. Brotherhood is a sign of the new life function in our hearts: "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brothers." (1 John 3:14).
In vain do you talk about the Christian experience, as long as you are not seized by Christ. In vain do you try to fulfill the law of Christ, as long as love has not made it a compelling necessity in your heart. In vain do you participate in religious ceremonies and social gatherings, as long as your interior is alien to the spirit of Christ. To be a Christian is to love Jesus. Salvation is not trying to become a better and more honorable person. It is a supernatural intervention that transforms your personality. All this has its background in the work of grace on the cross. The individual must therefore gain a clear understanding of what grace really is: "For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, slaves to various desires and lusts, living in malice and envy, hating one another and hating one another; but when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but according to his mercy" (Titus 3:3-5).