When I became an Army chaplain I felt embarrassed that I’d been given the Queen’s Commission without having gone through the same long and gruelling military process that general service officers went through to earn theirs. Eventually it was a tough old sergeant major who put me at ease when he told me to stop feeling guilty and just accept the fact that I had that commission because the Governor General of Australia had signed it and chosen to give it to me.
When a person does a day’s work and receives a day’s pay, that is a wage. When a person competes and receives a trophy, that is a prize. When a person receives recognition for achievement, that is an award. But when a person is given a status as a gift, that is an act of grace.
And that’s how the Bible describes God’s forgiveness – an act of grace that we cannot earn, just receive.