The Miracle of His Reach

I did something really ugly this week.   Fortunately, I didn’t get away with it.   Thanks to the wonders of cyberspace, I got caught talking behind someone’s back to her face.  Well, to her inbox on Facebook.   To all of you amateurs who have experienced a “reply all” misstep, your faux pas was confined to an email server.  My sin is in the ether.  I win.   I don’t really need to dig that deep to understand why I did it.  Pride, insecurity, judgment – the usual suspects.  I’m forty-four years old and I’ve been a follower of Jesus for a Very. Long. Time.  Conviction comes easily to me.  And yet, I still behaved like a junior high girl who looked just like the world.  Hmm, I wonder when self-control will come just as easily?  But, all that is for another blog and another day.  Today’s revelation is so much more profound . . .   It all happened, as our mistakes often do, in the flash of an instant.  Self-righteousness followed by thoughtlessness followed by hastiness and voila, it was done.  The worst part was that I did it right in front of my kids.  They had to see their mom do exactly what I had cautioned them against a million gazillion times.   I immediately braced myself for the consequences, fully expecting them to be harsh and justified.  Even though this interaction was with a sister in Christ, I anticipated my apology to be met with suspicion and my request for absolution to be met with indignation.  It is what I deserved, and you see, the limited capacity of my human mind could not in that moment even fathom an alternative.   However . . . It all must have happened, as we are not always privileged to glimpse, in the flash of an instant.  Selflessness followed by compassion followed by obedience and voila, it was done.  My victim quickly and intentionally granted me forgiveness.  It is not what I deserved, but you see, the infusion of His unlimited love in her transformed heart could not in that moment even fathom an alternative.   Her reflection of Christ, her supernatural ability to swiftly pardon my hurtful injustice – why, this is nothing short of a miracle in this fallen world.   She reached for me.  And in this miracle, I am overwhelmed by the parallel of His reach for me.  How many hurtful injustices have I inflicted upon my Savior in the constant rebellions of my heart, my tongue, and my hands?  In this miracle I see myself as so much lower than I ever truly recognized, and I see my God as so much higher than I ever truly dreamed.  I have a renewed awe that this chasm between us yawns wide.  Yet, I have a renewed gratitude that it is filled not with the hopeless void of separation but spanned by His ever-sufficient grace – His reach.   In the aftermath of this terrible ordeal, I realize that the best part was that it happened right in front of my kids.  They got to see their mom broken by sin and rescued by His reach.  Exactly the miracle I hope they will be reminded of in their lives a million gazillion times.  

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Romans 5:8 ESV