The Spirit of Grace

I know how hard it is for good people to 
accept the not so good people with bad 
reputations got saved and forgiven despite 
how bad they were 
I had a pastor once who said 
"I was always a good person before i 
became a Christian, I never sinned and I 
am still that way except that I
confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour 
many years ago." 
The day I invited some prostitutes to our 
monthly vigil, this woman saw them and 
couldn't concentrate throughout the 
service 
After the service, she called me to the 
pastor's office for a chat 
She was practically as white as snow 
She asked me if i knew what I was doing 
I said Yes 
She said "You brought those people into 
the church? 
You brought harlots into this church?" 
I kept quiet I had thought she was 
going to praise me when i went into 
the office to see her 
I was very wrong 
The smile on my face evaporated 
She said so much and at the end of 
the day she made me feel bad for 
bringing such people into the church 
She said she had never touched any 
profane thing in her life or shared her 
spiritual space with "loathful sinners 
like that" 
She asked me if I am sure they didn't
come into the church to solicit customers 
and drag the men into sin 
It was a tight rope 
She didn't know the gospel, what she
 knew was religious indoctrination 
She didn't have the spirit of the gospel 
What she has was "self-righteousness" 
She has not met the Lord 
I have met the Lord 
The gospel has made me a fragrance 
of Christ to all men 
I do not judge one at the expense of 
another or prefer one to another 
I regard all men as fit for the master's 
use and love all men as Christ loves 
us all to the point where he died and 
gave his life for us Grace is not
always pretty 
Religious people in the days of Jesus 
never got it and many still do not 
get it now 
Jesus saw a lady who had seven 
demons and she kept her as a close 
friend and disciple after casting out 
the demon 
He didn't mind the fact that her history 
will stick to her till today
I remember one day in 2007 
A woman came to our house in Ibadan 
She had done much evil against my 
family, especially my mother 
I was at home for the mid-semester break 
This woman came to see my mother to 
ask for forgiveness 
My mother didn't know this 
My mother only knew this woman was 
very troublesome and my mother 
wanted to avoid her trouble as much 
as possible 
As soon as the woman opened our gate, 
my mother saw her through the window 
So my mother pretended she was not 
at home 
The woman knocked and knocked 
Wow! 
I was asleep in the room 
My mother expected the woman to leave 
after knocking 
The woman didn't 
She kept knocking until she got tired 
Then she sat down inside our balcony 
and waited 
She was determined to speak with 
my mother 
I heard the Holy Spirit whisper in my 
ears "Love the unlovable" 
I woke up and walked out of my room 
As soon as my mother heard my footsteps, 
she tiptoed towards me and signaled to 
me to be silent 
I asked why 
She said the lady that gave her hell over 
a business they did together moths 
before was at the door 
She just didn't want to see the lady and 
she didn't want the lady to know she 
was at home 
I said "Mummy, the Holy Spirit woke me 
up now with the words Love the unlovable" 
My mother paused for a while, then 
she walked to the door and opened it 
The woman saw her and fell on her knees 
She had been told to go and apologize 
to the person she offended by a stranger 
earlier that day 
My mother invited her in and we had a 
long talk 
We all ended up praying together after 
having lunch 
A few months later, the woman's husband 
reached out to her after twelve years of 
abandoning her in Nigeria (He was in the UK) 
She went to join him soon after 
That is the spirit of Grace 
Not willing that any should perish but 
seeking to reconcile all to the father 
in love! 
I like listening to believers discussing 
politics and other mundane stuff 
I laugh at their ignorance most times 
because they "hate" others based
on a difference in ideology and orientation 
They put their passion in the wrong things 
and forget that you cannot be a 
"Christian" in the title and not be a 
"Christian to everybody in your conduct" 
Jesus said if you are good only to those 
who are good to you, you're not different
from hypocrites and the publicans 
A man has tested the faith of many 
believers all over the world the last 
few years 
Many failed the test 
The spirit of grace does not wish any ill 
It does not speak ill of any and it 
repays good for evil always 
Have you met the spirit of grace?