Theresa Rosenthal had a rough start in life. She watched her father abuse her mother, and then when she was six, a family friend sexually abused her. Like so many that suffered at the hands of a predator, Theresa pushed the pain down into a secret place, and for decades, she battled with depression and substance abuse. Finally, one day she was sitting in front of her house and just blurted out to God, “What am I supposed to do?” Within 24 hours, she had a Bible from a new friend who reached out to her, and even...
Theresa Rosenthal had a rough start in life. She watched her father abuse her mother, and then when she was six, a family friend sexually abused her. Like so many that suffered at the hands of a predator, Theresa pushed the pain down into a secret place, and for decades, she battled with depression and substance abuse. Finally, one day she was sitting in front of her house and just blurted out to God, “What am I supposed to do?”
Within 24 hours, she had a Bible from a new friend who reached out to her, and even though some of Theresa’s bad choices would land her in jail, her friend and that Bible, were constant sources of healing. Today, she’s a member of a loving church, and she tells anyone who will listen about God's grace in her life.
Daniel 4:2 says, “I thought it good to declare the signs and wonders that the most high God has done for me.”
Too often we are too tribal. We think God only works in our circles, but the fact is, God has always been the definition of inclusive. The Bible makes it very clear that God’s grace is available to anyone in all times and places.
Matthew 5:45 is a very interesting verse that illustrates this. It says, “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
That’s fascinating. What might seem unusual or even unjust to us is routine for God. Because God takes the long view. He knows that our lives on Earth are brief. So if he gives grace to a bad person, he’s thinking of that person’s eternal place. And let’s face it, there are plenty of times in our lives that we didn’t deserve grace. But he gave it anyway.
In God’s economy, a Babylonian brickmaker from 3,000 years ago is as valuable as you are. Theresa Rosenthal was warmed by that grace at a time when she was doing drugs and spiraling into depression, and she had no ability to improve her life. And that's the point of grace. God gives it to a variety of people and circumstances. And life would be unbearable without it.
Let’s pray.
Father God, your grace sustains us, in bad times and in good times, and we might take our focus off you. Sometimes that grace is almost unseen. We might not be aware of it until years later when looking back gives us insight. Thank you for giving us what we don’t deserve. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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