Taking grace for granted can be expressed in one word: ingratitude. Let me show you what I mean:

Most people know the story of Jonah. Told to go to Ninevah (a people he hated) to preach repentance, God was going to wipe out the population if they didn’t. But Jonah knew God to be a loving God and one of grace so he ran the other way. After his encounter with the big fish, he went to Ninevah (grudgingly) and hated every minute of it. God did exactly what Jonah feared: He forgave them when they repented in sackcloth and ashes. “Don’t save them! Wipe them out!” would be Jonah’s motto. In fact, if you read Jonah 4 you find him pouting because God was merciful.

Jonah forgot God’s grace toward him. He was ungrateful.

Let’s do another scenario: A man owed a king a huge amount of money (an unpayable amount). He begs to be forgiven and the king does just that. Then this same man finds another servant who owes him a small amount and slaps the dude in jail until her can pay it off. {Side note: how is that possible if he is in jail? But I digress} The king hears about it and rescinds his gracious act of forgiveness and slaps that dude in jail. (You can find the complete story in Matthew 18:21-35)

He forgot the king’s grace toward him. He was ungrateful.

Imagine the prodigal son being received by his father, gifted with a robe, a ring, sandals, and a feast only to leave there and demand homage from another.  We would probably be appalled at the callousness of that son.

Thankfully, the latter example never happened. The first two did. One in real life; the other in a parable taught by Jesus. But let’s turn it to ourselves. What if the story of our life is written? Would it be filled with stories of forgiveness followed up by forgiveness extended to others or would it have stories of God’s grace shown and then disregarded by our own ingratitude? 

What say you?