Grace and The Letter Of The Law

So this week saw to my eyes at least a wonderful example of someone in authority showing grace and not applying the strictness of the law.

Billy Sharp has endured what is probably the worst situation in the world; his two day baby died.

Being a professional footballer, he then played for his side Doncaster and scored a quite superb goal. Upon which he 'celebrated' by lifting up his shirt showing a message saying 'that's for you son'.

The referee was well within his rights to book the player for contravening the current laws of the game but instead showed grace, knowing what had happened.

It got me thinking about how legalistic I can be sometimes. How I want everything to be done to the letter of the law. Perhaps I need to be a bit more gracious and let God be the one who makes the final decision as to vengence.