The Power of Grace

In his sermon this past Sunday our Pastor, Gerald, spoke of one of the deepest reasons that we fail to share the gospel with others.  He said that perhaps we have just come to believe that some people are simply too far gone.  He reminded us that salvation is a supernatural work of God that can open the eyes of any person, no matter how heinous, apathetic or hateful we believe them to be.  As he proclaimed this truth, a powerful portion of Les Miserable came into my mind.  It includes a soliloquy by Jean Valjean just after he has been shown incredible mercy and grace by a priest who took him in.  I was reminded of just how powerful demonstrations of grace can be in a rebellious life.  As I went back and watched that clip, especially ValJean’s struggle with the grace he had been shown, I was reminded that often God uses such demonstrations of grace through us to bring lost people to repentance and draw them to himself.  Instead of being pessimistic toward the lost state of others, may we be conduits of God’s grace, trusting him to draw even those whom we deem to be the most radically lost sinners to himself!
Here are the lyrics, as well as Hugh Jackman’s performance from the 2012 film, which I believe to be his most powerful of the whole movie.

Les Miserables (Act 1)
What Have I Done (Valjean’s Soliloquy)

What have I done?
Sweet Jesus, what have I done?
Become a thief in the night
Become a dog on the run
And have I fallen so far
And is the hour so late
That nothing remains but the cry of my hate,
The cries in the dark that nobody hears,
Here where I stand at the turning of the years?
If there’s another way to go
I missed it twenty long years ago
My life was a war that could never be won
They gave me a number and murdered Valjean
When they chained me and left me for dead
Just for stealing a mouthful of bread

Yet why did I allow that man
To touch my soul and teach me love?
He treated me like any other
He gave me his trust
He called me brother
My life he claims for God above
Can such things be?
For I had come to hate this world
This world which had always hated me
Take an eye for an eye!
Turn your heart into stone!
This is all I have lived for!
This is all I have known!
One word from him and I’d be back
Beneath the lash, upon the rack
Instead he offers me my freedom,
I feel my shame inside me like a knife
He told me that I have a soul,
How does he know?
What spirit came to move my life?
Is there another way to go?
I am reaching, but I fall
And the night is closing in
And I stare into the void
To the whirpool of my sin
I’ll escape now from the world
From the world of Jean Valjean
Jean Valjean is nothing now
Another story must begin!