Wednesday; January 23

Have you ever heard the phrase, “There but by the grace of God go I”?  Ever thought about where it came from?  Well, tradition has it that these are the words of a 16th Century minister named John Bradford.  According to one of his biographers, upon seeing a group of evil-doers being taken to a place of execution he would remind himself of his need to remain humble by exclaiming, “But for the grace of God there goes John Bradford”.  Interestingly, in 1555 Bradford was tried, condemned to death and burned for his own trespass.  His crime was that his beliefs differed from the established religion of the reigning monarchy.
Have we ever thought about just how applicable this phrase is – not just in helping us remain humble, but also in promoting the forgiveness of others.  Have we ever thought out how close we have come to tragedy and ruin, but for some reason we have been spared?  Have you ever driven while distracted, but didn’t run over someone when it could have happened?  Have you ever invested in something that could have lost value and rendered you impoverished but it didn’t?  Have you ever had an illness that could have taken away a vital ability and destroyed your quality of life but you recovered?  Have we ever done something that could have been considered a crime, but for some reason we were not caught or prosecuted?  Have you ever wronged someone, but they forgave you out of the goodness of their heart?  When we see people paying for their crimes, living in homeless shelters, dealing with guilt or losing their homes and family most of us could honestly utter those humbling words, “There but by the grace of God go I”.
The New Testament shares a story of a man who was seen praying, “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘ God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’” (Luke 18:13).  Let’s learn from this tax collector and John Bradford that life is too fragile to be arrogant or unforgiving.
          Think About It!

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