From Rats to Royalty – Toni Babcock

When I was a young girl, my mother escaped an abusive marriage and lived for six years on public assistance. During that time, she received a grant to go to college and later became a public-school teacher. We were living in a housing project at the time.

One day, I overheard a young person in our housing community refer to another resident as a “welfare rat”. The irony was inescapable. What rule of the housing authority did the unfortunate “welfare rat” break, in order to win such a lowdown title? And if she truly was a "welfare rat", what did that say about the rest of us? We all lived in public housing and received 'assistance'. Therefore, were we not all 'welfare rats'? I was learning a lesson about human nature. Sometimes people attempt to receive honor by casting dirt on somebody else.

In God's economy, we're all bankrupt sinners in need of 'assistance'. In fact, the Bible says salvation is completely free of charge because it is a gift. "For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." (Ephesians 2:8) This gift is bought and paid for by the blood of Christ. We should see that we don't refuse Him, because giving and receiving honor (or dishonor) among ourselves is the opposite of how God works.

God sees his children in light of His Son. He calls them his family, his friends, his priesthood, his coworkers, his bride - changed in a very real sense from rats to royalty.

Toni Babcock is author of The Stone Writer, Christian Fiction for Young Readers and Teens. Contact

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Jesus poured out His blood for the New Covenant of grace and truth, replacing the Old Covenant letter of the law of Moses. Believers are exclusively under the New Covenant, the last will and testament of Jesus that began after the cross.