You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘mercy’ tag.
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form. Colossians 2:9
Most people don’t reject Jesus, they reject religion. After all, how do you spurn a man who heals the lame, stands up for women and outcasts, gives mothers back their dead children, and refuses to condemn the guilty?
Ask the man who sat by a pool for 38 years before someone named Jesus came along and finally showed they cared. As he picked up his bed and returned home do you think he had a bad thing to say about Jesus?
As the woman who’d been suffering from hemorrhaging for 12 years how she felt about Jesus. By touching him she made him ceremonially unclean. By ‘being found out’ she not only interrupted the ministry of a very important teacher, for a brief moment all attention was turned on her. Think she felt defamed or ridiculed as she felt her body suddenly stop bleeding?
Ask the woman walking home with a son who, moments ago, was being carried to his grave along with all her hopes for grandchildren. Do you think she doubted the power of God to bring life to the dead?
Ask the woman who closed her eyes expecting rocks to fly at any moment. After he raised her to her feet and told her she was no longer condemned. Do you think she went away thinking God could never forgive her past mistakes?
I could go on. The young mom who suddenly could feed her hungry children because the great teacher miraculously produced enough food for over 5,000 people from some kids sack lunch. Or the parents of the man who was blind from birth and now could see. The man who brought home his son, now completely healed from demonic powered seizures.
Fact of the matter is a study of Jesus Christ reveals a man who did absolutely nothing that others could look down upon, except maybe those intent on legalistic rules and regulations. If you want an example of who God is, look to Jesus. If you want an example of what a loving compassionate father, look to Jesus. If you want to see what grace looks like, look to Jesus.
I can’t explain what it means that Jesus was completely God and completely man. 100% human and 100% deity. I can’t explain it. I can’t explain it, but I like it because this example of love, forgiveness and mercy give me strength to go on.
With Jesus the voices of your past become silent; the accusations of the present fall away; the reminders of your weakness become foundations for your strength.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus. Once again I come in humble praise for all you showed in your life here on earth. I thank you for coming to live among us so we could catch a glimpse of the Father. Empower me now with your Spirit to show those around me your grace. Amen.
He saves my life from the grave and loads me with love and mercy. Psalm 103:4 NCV
How full is full? The answer to that of course depends on the size of the container to be filled, and what you are filling it with. Also, the supply source can have an influence on your answer.
For example, if I were to try to fill a gallon container with water from a quart sized container the question becomes unimportant. I can’t fill the gallon sized container because my source will dry up. If, however my source is unlimited and my destination container is small, filling it to overflowing is easy.
The Psalmist tells us that your Heavenly Father loads you up with love and mercy. Interesting thing about love and mercy. When they are present they squeeze whatever is inside of us out. Love and hatred can’t abide together. When I’m filled to overflowing with God’s love I can’t hate, even if I want to.
Mercy can’t co-habitate with guilt. Forgiveness can’t share a bed with revenge. Grace won’t be seen with a judgmental attitude. Freedom (in Christ) won’t associate with legalistic attitudes. Fear can’t sit down to eat with worry. Your new life in Christ ignores the voice of your past as it screams accusations and reminders of your failures.
You are a child of the Living God. When you accepted Christ onto your life and asked forgiveness of your sin something else happened. The Father filled you to HIS measure with love and mercy. The filling with God’s love is immediate even though the results can take time to show themselves.
Sometimes our humanity fights the filling so it takes time to see the full results. Don’t give up on yourself though. Don’t give up on God’s ability to remove the sludge of the old life. Constant reliance on his love will slowly squeeze out the fear, the doubt and the pain that keeps us from feeling the full benefits of your Fathers unlimited love and mercy.
So when the affair you had reminds you of your unfaithfulness, remember God’s mercy. When the words you wish you could take back haunt you, remember his forgiveness. When the bruises of an abusive past cause you pain, remember his love. When the voices of addiction taunt you and welcome you in, lean on his strength.
I love the phrase, “He loads me up with love and mercy’. In this we can find all the strength we need to carry on.
PRAYER: Father God I thank you for giving me the full measure of your love and mercy. I ask now that you would empower me with your Holy Spirit so that love and mercy will spill over to those around me. Amen
Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.” Deuteronomy 31:8 (NLT)
We were camping at the resort owned by a family friend. Every night we’d go to the office store for ice cream. We’d order one scoop but the owner would always give us three with a wink and a smile. One night it was busy and an employee dished our ice cream. We ordered a scoop. She gave us a scoop. Fair enough, but we were a bit taken back. We’d become spoiled. We said nothing about it since we’d been given more than we deserved on other occasions. A short time later the owner came by and saw our dishes. She questioned why we had ‘such a small amount’. I explained what happened but emphasized that is was no big deal. She got up from the table and, a few minutes later, returned with new bowls of ice cream. Three scoops. The owner personally took care of the situation for us.
Perhaps a simple example, but it is always better to go to the owner when you want something done. The personal attention you get from the owner far supersedes the attention even the most dedicated employee can give you. Why? Because the owner isn’t answerable to anyone.
Joshua is about to take over the reins of leadership for the nation Israel. Moses is God. He is God’s man, God’s warrior. He was young. He was nervous. And, he already had a reputation among the people for being a renegade of sorts. You remember Joshua. He was one of the twelve spies that went in to investigate the Promised Land. When everyone else said the task was impossible, Joshua said, “Let’s go for it!”
A true leader has many fears. Perhaps the two biggest ones are:
- Will I lead in the right direction?
- Will the people follow me?
Your heavenly Father promises you that if you rely on him for direction he will not only be with you on the journey, he acts as a scout. He goes ahead of you. He makes sure the way is safe and that every possible danger is known and prepared for.
The second promise the Father makes is that he will never ever abandon you. Others may. Even those we consider trustworthy and loving may turn their backs on you. Not your heavenly Father. He’s prepared to go the distance. He’ll walk with you when no one else will. During those times when you feel inadequate for the task he is there to walk beside you, encourage you to press on, help you to believe in yourself (or his ability to work through you).
Regardless of where you are on the journey remember that you never walk alone and the path you walk has been walked before by a loving, gracious, merciful Father who is passionately in love with you.
PRAYER: Father, I don’t know the future. I feel alone, inadequate for the task and abandoned. Thank you that these are all lies. I’m not alone. I can rise to the occasion with your help. You will never leave me. Amen.
Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone. Psalm 32:5 (NLT)
Finally. It’s a little word filled with relief when the fever of a small child finally breaks. It’s a word filled with hope when the gentle, prolonged rain falls on drought stricken land. It’s a word filled with comfort when a loved one returns home from battle or a long journey. Finally means many things to each of us and usually those feelings are feelings that bring a sigh to our hearts.
When David wrote this Psalm he recounts the agony he endured as he lived a life of sin. The double standard that he followed robbed him of his sleep, took away his appetite, and even caused physical pain and agony deep inside his joints. He was a hurting man in need of relief…finally.
Finally he finds the relief he sought. Finally-after holding it in for so long; after all the pain he endured; after living with the fear of being ‘caught’; after the sleepless nights. Finally he found relief.
Isn’t that the way it is with sin, especially for those of us that are Christ-followers? We visit the websites we know are displeasing to our Lord Jesus. We harbor the bitterness and anger of wrongs done to us. We relive the past mistakes we’ve made. We continue to live the lie in order to hide our sin.
Finally, King David got honest with himself, and God. Notice his confession wasn’t to people, not at first anyway. His sin was first and foremost against his God and that is where his confession was directed. He stopped the lies. He admitted his open rebellion, and, as a result found release from the guild he’d been harboring for a long, long time.
When he finally came to the point of confession David didn’t find a God who was intent on punishment, rage or anger. He found a God of forgiveness, grace and mercy. He found a God that was more than willing to remove the guilt he bore for so long. The guilt that caused the feelings of failure in his life. The guilt that fueled the feelings of remorse, anger and frustration. This God of love and grace didn’t just remove the penalty for his sin. He wiped out the guilt.
Many of us still deal with guilt in our lives. Getting rid of guilt simply requires confession on our part to a loving, gracious God. The enemy of your soul will tell you there is more, but you simply need to point to the cross and claim the promise of forgiveness though Jesus. His death and resurrection wipes out your guilt once and for all…finally.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I’ve been enduring the pain of guilt of a long time. I’m tired of the pain, the sleepless nights, the fear of being ‘found out’. I confess my sin to you right now. Cleanse me of my guilt and empower me to do what needs to be done to resolve any wrongs I’ve done to others. Thank you for your mercy, grace and forgiveness. Amen.
Tiger Woods. Bill Clinton. King David. Ted Kaczynski.
All these people have something in common. They were hiding something. Oh it’s a short list. There are many, many others. Some famous, some unknown. Some hid things in their lives that were major, heinous actions. Some were not. Some have been found out either by admitting their secret themselves, or getting caught red-handed. Some are still hiding.
King David gives us a glimpse into how it feels when we hide. He talks of even his very joints hurting, about loss of sleep, about the fear. Fear is a great motivator to sin. We fear being alone. We fear being caught. We fear being made ashamed. We fear so we do things we know are wrong.
When I was in second grade I took an extra package of crackers from the lunchroom at school. At that school, in that time, that was a no-no. But I slipped them into my pocket without being seen and snuck onto the playground. A strange thing happened on the playground though. That small little package of saltines began to burn. It seemed like everyone was watching me. My leg began to hurt. Finally, the pain was unbearable. As quickly as I left the lunchroom, I returned with the crackers. I announced (confessed) to the cooks my sin, put the crackers on the counter and left before the police arrived.
Now I look back and wonder how many years the cooks laughed over that one, but the lesson still remains planted in my mind. Sin hurts. It weighs us down. It haunts us to no end. We can ignore it. We can pretend it doesn’t exist. We can hide it. But deep inside it sits like a lump in our stomach.
I may be an idealist, but I don’t believe most people sin because they enjoy the sin. They sin either because of ignorance or because they do what they do to cover other pain.
I don’t think the person who goes out and gets drunk does it for the joy of a hangover the next morning, or waking up in jail or a hospital bed or with someone they don’t know. They turn to alcohol or drugs to hide the pain.
I don’t think the person who turns to pornography does so because they enjoy exploiting women. Deep down inside they are looking for love and acceptance. Even false love and acceptance (in their mind) is better than none.
I don’t think the person who involves themselves in an affair does so in order to destroy their families and kids. They are only seeking to relieve the loneliness.
Here’s the good news. You don’t need to hide anymore. You can come to Christ for complete forgiveness. You can get rid of the feeling of guilt and shame and remorse and fear once and for all.
He came to die so you can live. He gave his blood so you can be free.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you that I don’t need to hide anymore. Thank you for seeing through my sin and rebellion to know my pain. Forgive me for the hidden things in my life. In your name I pray, Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 