A few weeks ago, I was pulled over by a police officer. I had my kids in the car and we were late for school. I was in a hurry and there was a car next to me, so I was not able to move over into the car pool lane.
As soon as the car passed me, I moved into the car pool lane crossing the now just turned double solid yellow lines. Right away, I saw the lights go off and I knew I did something wrong and I pulled over.
The Officer came over to the car and in that moment, I knew I had two options: to tell the truth or to try justify what I did that was wrong and so the officer that I was right. Having my kids in the car and I knew that they would be listening to my every word and watching to see if what I say about my faith actually lines up with my deeds like in James chapter 2, verse 17 it says, “faith without deeds is dead,” helped me make the right choice.
Live your faith
I chose to tell him the truth, with no justifying. The Officer took my license and registration back to his vehicle all the while in my head thinking “seriously, it just went double yellow, I couldn’t pass this guy, I have kids in the car, I’m late for their school..... etc.”
As, I waited with the kids in the car, I explained what I had done wrong and what was going on. The officer came back and handed me a yellow ticket and all I can think is “oh no, how much is this going to be.” Instead he tells me what I did was wrong and he has chosen to give me a warning ticket instead.
True grace
The officer chose to give me a written warning. As I was pulling back onto the highway I realized that we all just received 2 amazing lessons about God.
Firstly, that no matter how much we break the sin, we are still breaking the law. In this case it was only by 20 or 30 m that I drove over the line too late, but I still broke the law.
When we sin, it doesn’t matter if it’s a ‘little thing’ such as a I looked with lust at that person, I was angry at my friend or it was a ‘bigger sin’ such as I stole a car or I cheated on my spouse.
Whatever the sin may be, sin is sin and there is no such thing as a little sin in God’s eyes. James chapter 2 verse 10 tells us that “if we stumble at just one point we are guilty of breaking all of it.” Sin needs to be addressed as sin, we can’t downplay it or in my case try and justify myself out of it. There is no way we can justify ourselves before a holy God, we are guilty.
The second thing
And the second thing is that this officer chose to show me grace. I deserved the ticket as I was in the wrong yet he choose to have grace on me. This is exactly what God does to us He gives us grace through the Lord Jesus Christ.
We deserve punishment, we deserve a fine, a ticket, we deserve hell, but God in his mercy forgives us because of Christ and what He did on the cross.
The police officer had the right and authority to give me a ticket since I did break the law, yet he showed me grace and mercy like Christ does for us when we call on His name to be saved.
If you don’t know that saving grace, I implore you to call onto Christ, put your trust into Him, confess your sins and you shall be saved.
Genevieve Wilson is a happily married home-schooling mum of 3, whose passion is to see people come to know Jesus. She is a seminary wife to her amazing husband.