When I watched the movie, “Grace Card,” I thought its main theme was learning how to forgive members of our immediate families, but after a second viewing, I realized that its main theme was about forgiveness among White and Black Americans, racism in its harshest terms. We are all part of humanity, twelve tribes that God created to populate our world. So, upon further reflection, the main theme was more about grace, forgiveness, for all people. Ephesians 2:8 (KJV) states, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”
When someone loves you, it is easy to love them back, but when a stranger, someone who doesn’t like you, or someone who is hard to love hurts you, fear, anger, and hatred find a way to further extend that hurt. It is easier to receive grace than to give it away. When God feels you are a “ready student,” He will send you a teacher, perhaps someone who is harder to love.
It is hard for parents not to compare their children’s behaviors, talents, physical characteristics, or academic achievements. It is easier for many fathers to be confrontational with their children than to reach their hands out to them. It is easier for many mothers to love their children when they are infants or young children than to hug those same children when they act out as teenagers. Parents should never under-estimate the power of grace within their own families for it can truly make a difference in the family’s stability. The most important thing for parents to do is to listen carefully to their children for it is in the listening that both parties learn to respect one another. It takes a strong person to say, “I’m sorry.” It takes an even stronger person to take responsibility for their words and actions and to ask for forgiveness.
Christ’s ministry was out in the streets and towns of a relatively small area. All of us need to make a difference among all races just as Christ did in His lifetime. America has been plagued by its racism problems for centuries, and the answers to these problems are absolutely in our hands, from the Whites, to the Blacks, to the Hispanics, to the Asians, and to Native Americans. Once words have been spoken in fear, anger, and hatred, they don’t just disappear. They stay in the minds and hearts of everyone until someone asks for grace. As we have seen countless times before, fear, anger, and hatred may erupt into violence and even death. For Americans, it is even harder to forgive when someone we respect or a political leader tells us it’s O.K. to be less than human towards others. God didn’t place all the races on the earth simply to populate it; He placed the races here so that we might grow to love our differences and exult in our similarities. When He feels we are ready to learn, He sends us a teacher so that we will learn to listen to Him. Most of us want justice and peace among the races, but more importantly, we want and need grace, forgiveness. We need to say to each other, “Let me see your world through your eyes so that I will not kill who you are through my words and actions.”
Whether it’s our families or our race relations, many people say a lot of things they do not mean in the passion of discussions or in the heat of arguments. We have two options for our lives: we can curse God and die or we can stop fighting Him and become one of His children in faith. He will never stop searching for us; we must realize our weaknesses and turn to Him. No progress is made in our all of our relationships when we allow fear, anger, and hatred to enter those personal encounters. Only love can move us in the right direction towards our Eternal Father. Just when we think we have our lives figured out, God will send a curve ball at us to bring us back to His fold.
Do not go another day without accepting responsibility for your words and actions. The premise for the movie, “Grace Card,” is that when someone hurts you, give them a grace card that states the following: “I promise to pray for you every day. I will ask for your forgiveness and grant you the same. I will be your friend always.” And when you ask someone to pray for you, pray together that He will come into your lives with unconditional love because forgiveness is a two-way street.
Anna Hartt
