Taking Advantage of Grace

It was during four years at the young age of 24 that I had the privilege to sit on the bench as a Municipal Court judge in the state of Ohio. During the next four years I heard and judged over 4,300 cases. Why did I become a judge? There were many times I asked myself that question while arraigning someone or cleaning up paperwork at 1:00 a.m.  I still had a full time job.

Previous judges had the reputation of being unfair or playing “favorites”. Therefore, I believed that a Christian  would make a better judge.   I learned many life lessons during my tenure on the bench with one of the most prominent being that guilty people want to get “around the law”.  On more than a couple of occasions, I was asked to “bend the law” to help an individual.

Some people used my personal convictions of grace and mercy as a reason why I should let them “off the hook”. It was during those times the verse in Matthew 5:17 became important to me. One case in particular comes to mind. A young 25 year old man had been arrested for assault on a four-year old boy. The man lived in an apartment complex and had been drinking in a local bar for most of the evening. When he arrived home, he was so intoxicated that he knocked on the door of the wrong apartment. When a strange woman opened the door, he barged in and began yelling at her to get out of his apartment. Then her little boy came out of the bedroom, and the man picked him up by his tee shirt and threw him into the refrigerator. The incriminating evidence included a hospital report and the bloody tee shirt.

The man pleaded not guilty because he blamed the bar owner as being responsible for his condition. When he was found guilty of the crime, he asked me for grace and mercy. At that time, I openly acknowledged God’s mercy and grace in my life as I often discussed such things from the bench (I could do that in my court).  I reminded him that God’s grace was not to be used as a license to break the law.

I concluded by telling him that laws were created to protect people and when they are broken, consequences follow. I visited him in jail afterward to discuss his real problem of alcoholism and his need for a relationship with the Lord. When he was released, he got help.

God’s grace does not mean that we are not guilty for our actions. There are consequences for inappropriate behavior and actions.

For Christ followers, the difference is that Jesus stands before a highest Judge and says, “Yes, he is guilty, but I took all his punishment on the cross. Look at my hands. My grace has covered those sins.”

Each of us should revisit our relationship with Christ. Knowing Him does not excuse us from obeying the laws of the land. Rather, we should strive to keep the laws as a testimony of our love for the Lord. We should deeply appreciate His grace, and realize that our sentence has been permanently commuted.

Honorable Judge Gary Balser