Not just a friends and family plan

Who gets your grace? Why is it that we can be so ready to extend grace to people in our family, people in our community (church or otherwise), even that guy who just stole our parking spot that we have been riding around the mall parking lot looking for for 20 minutes, and yet the minute someone gets on television and is accused of a crime, they are suddenly not worthy of grace any more.



Over the last few months, I was horrified to watch the media, and the world, call for the conviction of Casey Anthony. On the day the jury came back, horror turned to nausea. Not Guilty... Let the flame war begin. I watched as people called for Casey's death, beating and re-trial. The thing that bother me the most was the writings of people who wrote how they couldn't wait for her to die so she could spend eternity in hell.







The other story that came out of the Anthony trial was that Casey Anthony was beyond redemption, unlovable by society, and most shockingly, unlovable by God. This hurt me to my core. This is, in my opinion, in no way the way we, as followers of Christ should feel and act.
At what point did we become a people who can flippantly talk about another human being going to hell? At what point did we become a people that are blinded by indignant rage? At what point in our lives did we become a people without grace?

As a people that believe in the redemptive grace, who the person is should not matter at all in our ability to offer grace. We are not called to offer redemptive grace only to those we like, or to those who think like us or look like us. Grace is not a Friends and Family Plan.

I have a question for you. Who is beyond your grace. Who is that one person that screwed up so bad, that there is no chance for redemption? Post it in the comments below.

This post is part of a group of posts for The People of the Second Chance called Never Beyond. Please join in the conversation at POTSC.com POTSC is a group of people that believe in radical grace for all.