There was a professor, he wanted to teach his students the meaning of grace. So on the final day of the exam, he got all the students all together.
“I am going to review the final exam.”
So they went through the test questions one by one. He asked them questions. Some of them could not answer then he asked them how come they don’t know the answer.
“Sir, I really don’t know.”
He said, “Turn to this page, it’s there.”
So they reviewed everything about the final exam. And then he said, “Now you are ready.” So he gave them their test papers.
“Don’t turn to the front page, do it together. Now, together, turn!”
They were surprised. Their names were written on the exam paper -in red. All the correct answers were written down.
At the last page there was a sentence. “This is your final exam and all the answers are correct. The creator of this exam has chosen to give you the answer, to give you grace. You all will get a grade A, because this is grace.” And he went to each student.
“What is your grade?”
The student said, “A.”
“Did you deserve it? Did you earn it?”
“ No.”
Then he asked the next student.
“What is your grade?”
“A.”
“Did you deserve it? Did you earn it?”
He asked each student.
“What is your grade?”
“A.”
“Why? Because you studied hard? Because you earned it? No, because it is grace.”
And at the end of the class he said, “Certain things in life you learn by lecture, and certain things in life you learn by research, but there are certain things in life you will only learn by experience. And today you just experienced grace.”
And he said, “100 years from now, when you see Jesus, you will know grace.”
When I stand before God someday, the report card that I will get will all be A’s. When I stand before God, the report card that God will show me will be all A’s. Why? Grace.
***
I heard this story and thought, "What a wonderful glimpse of grace." If I were a student in that class, I believe that will profoundly change how I treat other people. Having experienced kindness, we can be kind. Having experienced grace, we can become dispensers of it to others.
But suppose one of the student refuses and cries, "That's not fair! I worked hard for this exam. Give me whatever grade I deserve." I believe the professor would have to respect that student's wish. Now the student could've fair and square met the standards of his course and deserved an A. Or it could be a B- or a C. Whatever it is, he missed the point. He refused grace.
On matters of salvation, I would always choose grace. I cannot and will never be able to meet the standards of the Law. I will foul up sometime. Why, just this morning I flung murderous thoughts toward my boss.
Give me grace anytime. And let it so transform me that I can learn to give grace too, even to my boss with his unprofessional remarks, or to my officemate who sings on top of her lungs, or to the guy behind me who thinks he's a Greek actor and talks loud enough to be heard up the hills of Dyonisus. Or towards "family members" who have harmed my life and those of my loved ones. And even to a fallen leader who preyed upon the innocence and trust of a once-young man.
Give me that grace.
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