mercy

"But God loves us deeply. He is full of mercy. So he gave us new life because of what Christ has done. He gave us life even when we were dead in sin. God's grace has saved you.

God raised us up with Christ. He has seated us with him in his heavenly kingdom because we belong to Christ Jesus. He has done it to show the riches of his grace for all time to come. His grace can't be compared with anything else. He has shown it by being kind to us because of what Christ Jesus has done.

God's grace has saved you because of your faith in Christ. Your salvation doesn't come from anything you do. It is God's gift." ~ Ephesians 2:4-8 NIRV

my parents shared a website with me yesterday for Back to the Bible. is it an international media ministry. Woodrow Kroll is the president and senior Bible teacher for the ministry. yesterday on his program he talked about mercy: "God's mercy means withholding penalty." (click on the title for the video and transcripts from this program).

here are some poignant thoughts i walked away with.

God's character is such that His mercy means there isn't anything you and I have done so heinous, so bad, that God, when He chooses to, can exercise mercy on our behalf.

When we receive the mercy of God in our lives, we're not making excuses for the way we've lived our life. We're saying, "There is no excuse for the way I've lived my life. There's no excuse for the way I've acted in front of God and in front of other people." And what we're doing is, we're saying to God, without making excuses, setting aside every opportunity I have to justify myself. "I am admitting I need Your mercy."

Fourth century church father, John Chrysostom said, "Mercy imitates God and disappoints Satan." That is so true. If I demand justice, I make Satan happy, but I may disappoint God. If I show mercy, I surely will disappoint Satan, but I will be more God-like in the process of doing that.

Being merciful then means not being judgmental and not demanding justice. It means not allowing the penalty for sin against us to become a penalty. We just take that sin and we say we'll wipe it away by showing mercy to this person.

To show mercy always demands more than intellectual assent that I need to show mercy. It demands action. It demands that I find ways and find people in my own life that I can go out of my way to show them mercy as opposed to asking for justice.

those thoughts are so convicting to me. we have such a wonderful example in Christ. yet why it is so hard for us to grant others mercy? one line from Mr. Kroll really stood out to me: mercy demands action. it is something we show…something we demonstrate. we choose to wipe the slate clean. we don’t look at the wrongs, the sin…we don’t penalize them. we look at them through God’s eyes. what a great reminder. oh, to be more like Christ.