Unfair Favor

I was 17 years old.  Mouthy.  A troublemaker in my small Nebraska town.  I was hanging out downtown (as all small town teenagers do) with my friends when a drunk cowboy came out of nowhere, yelling at me that I'd stole his beer.  He was trying to pick a fight.  Now, I told you I was mouthy, and a troublemaker, so I fought back.  I didn't steal his beer, although I wasn't against stealing beer, I just hadn't stole any that particular hot summer evening.  But the cowboy grabbed his .223 rifle, stuck it to my head, and pulled the trigger.

Click.

I was dazed. Was I shot? Was I dead? Was my story about to dominate the hushed gossip in our small town? It took me what seemed like an eternity to answer these questions in my stunned condition.  But in real time, it was just seconds later when I realized I was still alive and I was ANGRY! I laid into that cowboy until someone pulled me off. He had attempted to take my life and my fight or flight reaction was FIGHT!

The favor of God spared my life before I acknowledged that God even existed! In His overwhelming kindness and mercy, God gave me another chance to live a life worth living by miraculously jamming the gun. But in my second chance, God had spared that cowboy's life as well!  The cowboy could have had to live with the weight of committing a cold-blooded murder for the rest of his life. His wife could have become an outcast in our little community. His family could have grown up without a dad.  His kids could have wondered if the same impulsive rage lurked inside of them.  His parents could have spent sleepless nights wondering where they'd gone wrong. Or they could have looked at each other with suspicion, replaying the memories when Mom drank too much or Dad lost his temper.  God spared more than my life when the trigger jammed--He spared my enemy's life & his family's lives as well.  How is that fair? It's not. Favor isn't fair.

We can wonder why the "bad guy" gets off in life--why the drunk driver lives while the young mother & child die...why the crooked remain in power when the faithful end up with pink slips...why the popular kids are idolized and the kids who accept everyone as a friend are ostracized--it's not fair!  But just like God's gift of unmerited favor that spared my life when I didn't know Him, He gives miraculous second chances to us all!  And I'm so glad He doesn't just save these chances for the "good people" because that's a far cry from who I was back then. God sees the value in you & I long before we see it in ourselves!

No matter what you're going through, no matter who you are or what you've done, YOU ARE important to God. You're His favorite kid! His love for you never runs dry!

For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.  --Ephesians 2:10