A man I knew when he was just a boy lived near one of those old-timey neighborhood grocery stores. As a boy he was in that grocery store every day. He knew the owner and those working in the store very well. One day he stole some pencils. It didn’t amount to very much—maybe 25 cents. Just three, four, or five pencils, and he didn’t need them. It was just one of those childish acts. In fact he took them home and buried them in the yard.
When his dad found out (and dads usually do find out), he made the boy take those pencils back to the grocery store and present them to his friend who owned it. The boy was to not only return the pencils, but give the owner the money for those pencils as well. It just so happened that this was on the boy’s birthday. The owner of the store knew the boy so well that he knew it was his birthday.
The boy walked in with great reluctance. He told the man what he had done. He handed him the pencils and the money for the pencils also. The owner of the store looked at him for a long time and didn’t say anything of reprimand, or anything to scold him. He just took the money and gave it right back to him and said, “Happy birthday, son.”
How wasn’t that a gracious thing to do? Wasn’t that a merciful and kind thing to do? The boy had done wrong, and he deserved at least a reprimand. He deserved to be scolded. Instead the man who was his friend gave him a birthday gift.
That is a picture of the graciousness, the kindness, and the mercy of God. God does not deal with us according to our merits. He deals with us according to his mercy. He does not save us because we deserve it. He saves us in spite of what we deserve. And when we think of the salvation that is ours through the Gospel, we must know that it is the Gospel of grace. God loves us so much that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. It is a gospel of grace.