The Grace Card

On Friday night, our Men's Retreat group went to see The Grace Card (www.thegracecardmovie.com). The movie was created by Calvary Church (Cordova, TN) and filmed here in Memphis. The movie is a powerful message of God's grace, love, forgiveness, reconciliation, and restoration. The main characters, Mack and Sam, are both Memphis cops. Mack blames death of his first son and the failures of his family on himself. Sam, also a minister, doesn't understand why he seems to be failing at his calling.

So what is a Grace Card and what does it mean for us?

"I promise to pray for you everyday, ask your forgiveness, grant you the same, and be your friend ... always."

The Grace Card is based on Ephesians 2:8 "For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God." Grace is a gift and God fills our life with gifts. Free gifts that we don't deserve and we are given so many gifts throughout our lives. As King David said, grace and mercy follow us all the days of our lives (Psalm 23:6). Unfortunately, we often reject them without even realizing it. Just like Mack and Sam, we can't see past our own failures or perceived failures. When we allow our failures to dominate our thoughts and actions, we give the devil the opportunity to separate us from God's people in our lives. Once separated, the devil is there to devour us (1 Peter 5:8).

But the beauty of grace is that God can use us to give this gift to those around us. Forgiveness, prayer, love, friendship - these are gifts we can freely give just as God gives them to us. And just like us, the people we give them to may or may not deserve them. But that's the power of grace. We give not expecting anything in return. We give not expecting to lord it over others but to reconcile with them.

The Grace Card is a paradigm shift from expecting to freely giving. From self-view, what we want, to God-view, what God wants. The Grace Card is giving our pain and hurt over a relationship to God and living the peace of God (Phil 4:7). It frees us to forgive, love, and befriend someone we could not under our own power.

Is there someone who you have not been able to forgive? Have you gotten to the point in a relationship that only by God's grace that it can be reconciled? Then, maybe it's time you pull the Grace Card ...