There was a bakery in a small town. However a new bakery was opened, and the two competed with each other. They cut their prices down gradually until they both weren’t making profits, each hoping they could hold out longer than the other bakery. One day, the two owners met together, agreed upon a proper price for their bakeries which they promised to keep, and then they shook hands. This is called a “gentleman’s agreement.” This kind of agreement doesn’t have any legal power, but as it is an undeniable promise made to one another, they likely won’t break their deal.
In the Bible, there is a similar “promise” story. When Jesus Christ was on the cross, there were two other men, both criminals. One of them who hung there hurled insults at Jesus, but the other confessed, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:42-43).
In this story, two people, Jesus and a criminal, talked to each other about the promise of eternal life immediately after death. This criminal’s confession and Jesus’ promise were its foundation.
That criminal never sinned after that because that was his last moment, and he got a special gift of which there is nothing greater in this world—salvation by Jesus’ mercy. We call this “grace.”
“Mercy” and “grace” have similar meanings, but there is a difference. Mercy is given to us through God’s power coming down from heaven, but grace is not something given from God one-sidedly. Grace is completed in us upon the agreement between giver and receiver when we keep our promise to each other.
As a matter of fact, there is a “gentleman’s agreement” between us and God, and it is called the “grace of salvation.” We can lightly say that salvation is God’s grace, but it is actually much heavier than that. If we want to hold and keep our salvation before we go to heaven, the two sides should keep their promise to one another. But God does not break His promises, so the responsibility to keep the agreement is ours. We should live our lives as people who keep God’s grace of salvation. How can we keep the gentleman’s agreement until the end of our lives? There might be many answers for it, but I believe that one clear answer is to reflect on our lives everyday and to examine our mind, heart, and behavior before God to find out whether we have a conflict that would break our promise with God. And then we should express thanks, confess our sins, and go back to God repeatedly.
