I Peter 1:3
All honor to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for it is by his boundless mercy that God has given us the privilege of being born again (into a living hope).
The book of Psalm is a proclamation of praise. But this proclamation is not simply from God or for God's people (those who are saved. It is a general call to make sure that everyone understands a very important virtue of God's nature or character....HIS MERCY!
It seems to me that many, even in the church, have forgotten about the mercy of God.
God's mercy told a woman caught in adultery..."Go and sin no more!".
God's mercy with held the rain for over 100 years while Noah finished the ark. All the while, during the building process, it was the mercy of God that spoke to the people. The mercy was rejected and the people perished.
So what is "mercy"?
Mercy, when it refers to God's nature or character, is God giving me something I don't deserve.......and God withholding something from me I do deserve. What is it that God offers to me that I don't deserve? How about salvation! I really don't deserve this incredible gift of having a relationship with God. I don't deserve the love that Jesus carried to the cross to die in my place.....to pay for my sins.......that should have been me up on that cross. But the mercy of God stepped in and took my place.
What is it I do deserve? I do deserve hell, because of my sin. Romans 6:23 reads,"For the wages of sin is death...." That is a statement of fact. It isn't a suggestion or something that might happen....as sure as the sun comes up every morning, then what you reap from your life of sin (being independent for God) is death. Not physical death, for we all are headed in that direction...but what the Bible refers to as 2nd death...or eternal separation from God in a place referred to as hell.
Romans 6:23 doesn't end with this statement about the wages of sin...but goes on to say..."But the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." How could this eternal life offered to us be free? The MERCY of God, that's how.
It is the mercy of God that reaches down to anyone who is consumed by addiction. It is the mercy of God that reaches down to offer this gift of life..real life. It is this mercy that speaks to us to see ourselves as being powerless over the addiction.
Mercy moves us to look for a Power greater than ourselves that could restore us to sanity.
Mercy is the tender voice that draws us to surrender our will and life over to the care of God.....As we understand Him. That means that we don't have to be theologians or Bible Scholars..all we have to know is that God's mercy is moving us to come out of the darkness and bondage of addiction, and move into the light of a new life with Him.
Think on the Mercy of God today...
Ask God to give you vision to see His mercy at work all around you and in you today.
God on you....
mb
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