Grace

One thing that always amazes me about God's nature is his grace.  God has grace to not treat us as we deserve, but to instead bless us everyday.  At the end of the book of Job, God shows grace to Job's three friends.  In Job 42:7-8 (NLT), God says to Eliphaz (one of Job's friends):

... I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has.  So take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves.  My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer on your behalf.  I will not treat you as you deserve, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has.

Although Job's friends had told him that he was sinning and this was why God was angry at him and although his friends had represented God inaccurately, God gave Job's friends grace and did not punish them.

God often extends this same grace to us.  Instead of saying, "I will hold you accountable for all of your wrongs", God says, "Welcome Home, my child."  He says this with open arms.

In Luke 15:11-32, Jesus tells the parable of the Prodigal Son.  Paraphrased, this parable says the following.  A man had two sons.  The man split the inheritance between the two sons that they would have received after the death of the man.  The youngest son moved to a distant land and wasted all of the inheritance that the father had given him.  After the son was almost dying of hunger because he had wasted all his money, the son realized what he had done and decided to go home and apologize to his father.  He wanted to go back and work as a hired servant because he felt that he was no longer worthy to be called his father's son.  Instead of confronting the son with rejection and anger, the father ran to the son and embraced him when he saw him coming home.  This is how God sees us when we have wronged him.  God forgives us and is excited that we have come home.  He extends his love and compassion towards us.  God celebrates when we ask for forgiveness and come home to Him.  That is how much He loves us!

The parable ends when the father says:

We had to celebrate this happy day.  For your brother was dead and has come back to life!  He was lost, but now he is found! (Mark 15:32 NLT)

 God says this to us every time a sinner comes back home.  How awesome is that?