Mercy

God's mercy is so vast and amazing. I am in awe everyday of what a merciful God we have. I was just thinking about how many of us have been granted mercy by barely missing having an accident because we were texting on our phone, speeding, being wreckless or inattentive.

God's mercy is His compassion and leniency; it is when we are spared from judgement, harm, danger, or trouble. He basically doesn't give us the punishment that we deserve. I know that God's angel's have worked overtime in my life extending His mercy upon me. I lived a pretty rough party life when I was in college. I know there were many a nights that I was so inebriated to the point that I would wake up in the morning not knowing what happened the night before. Time after time, I know that God kept me safe. However, one thing I always did was give someone the keys to my car so I wouldn't be tempted to drive and if I needed to get home, I would call someone to take me home.

Grace (as I talked about yesterday) and mercy are like a coin, they are on the flip side of each other; they go hand in hand. J. Hampton Keathley III wrote, "grace stresses God's character and man's sinfulness while mercy stresses God's strength and man's helplessness."

Paul was a murderer of Christians and was known as Saul before God saved him. Paul says of himself , "even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all."
(I Timothy 1:13-15). We see Paul as this great and mighty man of God who wrote most of the old testament, yet he himself did not see himself as that. He became aware of God's mercy upon his life. It seems that the more he served Christ, the more he humbled himself to the Lord.

Be to others as God would be unto you. Don't be like the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18:23-35, "Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from the heart.

At times we need to know that God gives us "another chance" many times throughout our lives. Although the deeper and more aware you are of the truth, God's mercy begins to leave you and He calls you into obedience to Himself. Remember today what an awesome and merciful God that we serve. For His mercies are vast, but know that we must not put ourselves in the midst of danger and think that God will save us everytime.

Today, be merciful, compassionate, and lenient on others as God does for you everyday.

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