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By Barry Buzza
 A story from the Chicago Tribune told of a young, love-struck Brazilian artist who was distraught over his break-up with Katia, the love of his life. He thought if he could do something to prove himself she would then take him back, so Marcio walked on his knees to her home, nine miles from his.
He placed chunks of car tires on his knees and then the 21 year old man shuffled for fourteen hours to Santos, Brazil where Katia lived. Motorists and pedestrians cheered him on as they passed, but when he reached her doorstep Marcio was thoroughly exhausted.
Unfortunately, his 19 year old girlfriend heard about his desperate display of love and intentionally left her home before he arrived. She was not impressed.
I read that newspaper article and thought about people who try to earn God's love by doing good things. "If I can just be good enough, maybe God will accept me!" Martin Luther wrote how he tried for years to deserve God's love by long periods of fasting, sleeping on a stone bed, crawling up stone steps on his knees. He almost died in the process, but was ultimately surprised by God when he read in the Bible. "We can't earn God's love by doing stuff-it's a free gift for every person. We simply need to receive it." The word that describes God's love for us is grace. Grace is unearned and undeserved favour.
A youth worker was taking a course in seminary, where the professor had been trying to teach his students about grace. When she arrived at the class for their final exam, everyone was studying feverishly. The teacher came in and, as promised, covered some of the key points in the study guide.
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 She became more worried during that review, because he was bringing up stuff she didn't remember studying before. When questioned about it, he responded, "It's all in the text book!" The students couldn't argue with his statement. They had been told to read and remember what the text had said.
Finally, it was time to take the test. "Leave them face down on your desks. When I give the start signal, you can turn them over and begin."
The word was given and the students turned their exam papers over. When they did, they found that every answer on the test had been neatly filled in. At the bottom of the last page, this was written: "This is the end of your final exam. All the answers on your test are correct. You will receive an "A" as your class grade. The reason you passed the exam was not because you worked so hard or because you are so brilliant. Rather, it was because the creator of the exam took it for you. All the work you did to prepare for the test did not help your grade. You have just experienced grace!"
Then he went around the room asking, "What mark did you get?" "Did you deserve that grade?" "How much did your work help you with the final mark?"
Of course, those students at Hannibal-LaGrange College never forgot the lesson they learned that day about grace. God's love is a free gift to anyone who will receive it!
Barry Buzza, a regular contributor to canadianchristianity.com, is a veteran pastor, and also the president of the The Foursquare Gospel Church of Canada. www.barrybuzza.com www.foursquare.ca
February 28/2008
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