In 35 years of ministry, this was a first.

As I sorted through the church mail a few weeks before Easter, I came across an envelope with the church address hand-written, but no return address included.  Wondering who had sent it and what it might be about, I opened it.

Inside were three $100 bills and the message, “Please put this in the offering plate.  Repayment for stealing many years ago.”

The bills were wrapped in a half-sheet of “Alro Steel” stationary.  There is indeed an Alro Steel factory in Clare, Michigan where our church happens to be.  But there are also dozens of other locations around the Midwest and Eastern states … including Cleveland, which was where the envelope was postmarked.

The mysterious gift raised so many questions.

Who was the anonymous individual who sent it?

Were they male or female?

Were they currently or previously employed by Alro Steel, or was the paper simply from a rip-off tablet that was handy?

Was the stolen money actually somehow stolen from our congregation?  Or was it something altogether different, but the individual wanted to repay it in a more “personal and direct” way to God by sending it to a Christian congregation?

And if that’s the case, why was it sent to our congregation?  A random choice (which I find hard to imagine), or did they somehow have ties to it?  (Seemingly more likely.)

But to me, perhaps the biggest question is … what was their motivation for repaying the money?

Of course, everyone understands the burden of a guilty conscience, and feeling the need to ease or erase that burden.  Obviously, this was almost certainly a huge factor in the money being sent.

But the question remains: was the repayment driven primarily by guilt or by gratitude?

Guilt is a powerful driving force.  But those responding solely to feelings of guilt rarely assuage those guilt feelings.  At least not completely.  If the realization that God is in the picture, the concern is always, “Is my response enough to please the holy God?”  If God is not recognized, the nagging reality that the dirty deed was still done still lingers.

Gratitude is an entirely different matter.  It’s the recognition that there is complete forgiveness through Jesus the Savior for whatever wrongs we have done.  Which results in an eagerness to do what pleases God in sincere thankfulness for his love, forgiveness and salvation.

Guilt is a feeling that we need to do something to make things right, with the emphasis on what self does; gratitude is being moved to want to do something to make things right, with the emphasis on what Jesus did for us.

There’s a significant difference between the two.  The Bible, by the way, promotes the gratitude avenue.

And when it comes to payments, there is none better than the price Jesus paid for you and me:

“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:18-19).

The price for our forgiveness is fully paid by Jesus!  How does this profound payment affect us? 

“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.  And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).

Whoever sent the $300 to our congregation certainly did the right thing.  I pray that he or she knows that Jesus’ blood truly paid for their theft, and that as a result they are filled with joy, peace and gratitude.  For he did, so they can be!

It’s a truth that applies to all of us and our sin and guilt: Jesus already paid the price.  Thanks be to Jesus!  So in gratitude, we respond to that incredible gift by how we live and what we do.

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Titus 2
¹¹ For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. ¹² It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, ¹³ while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, ¹⁴ who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.