JUSTICE, MERCY & GRACE
Most of us can identify with the sickened feeling in our stomachs and the flood of emotions that follow when we look in our rearview mirror and see flashing lights.
He took my license and went back to his patrol car. I waited and waited and waited some more. Such times always feel like they are taking forever.
Several years ago, while pastoring a church in Washington state, I was driving home in my tiny blue Toyota pick-up truck when, to my dismay, I looked in the rearview mirror, and lo and behold, there was a police car with lights flashing.
It was Sunday afternoon, and I had just finished preaching two services when my short drive was disturbedly interrupted.
I did what many of us do in such a situation. I started racking my brain, trying to think of what I did and what I would say. In the process, I realized my seatbelt wasn't fastened.
I am still uncertain of what crime I will be charged with, but just in case, to alleviate any doubt and possible citation, while the officer is preparing to approach me and my back towards the police car, I cunningly, slowly, and methodically, making sure my upper body wasn't moving, reach over, grab my seatbelt, and fastened it.
Shortly after hearing the buckle snap, I breathed an anxious sigh of relief, rolled down my window, and nervously greeted the police officer.
"Did you just fasten that seatbelt?" he said.
What was I to say? I was returning from church, and I was the pastor, let alone a Christian. I knew what my answer had to be.
"Yes, officer, I did."
He took my license and went back to his patrol car. I waited and waited and waited some more. Such times always feel like they are taking forever.
When he returned, he handed me my license with no ticket, and with great relief, I drove away.
What an unexpected demonstration of mercy.
Did I deserve a ticket? Absolutely! I wasn't wearing a seatbelt, a ticket-able offense, and by law, I deserved one. He would have been completely justified in writing the ticket, yet the officer extended mercy towards me, not giving me what I rightly deserved.
We love it when mercy is extended towards us. But it is even sweeter when we willingly accept that we are guilty.