MERCY AND GRACE - GRACE AND MERCY
Psalms 103:1-12 Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord , O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases; he redeems my life from the pit and crowns me with love and compassion. He satisfies my desires with good things, so that my youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel: The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
These verses hold a great deal of insight about God, and they are good for the soul. God is a good God and worthy of all praise. If God treated us the way we deserved, there would be no one left to walk on this earth. All have gone astray. Everyone has sinned against God. Only Jesus walked a sinless life on this earth. You might say, “But he hit the merchants with a whip and scattered their money in the temple.” Yes, he did this, but it was righteous and deserving. There is nothing wrong with anger. In fact sometimes it is a sin not to be angry about something.
Mercy is God not punishing us the way we deserved to be punished. As I said without God showing us mercy, everyone would be in hell for all eternity. And God would be just in doing it. All a person has to do is sin one time and they are a sinner deserving punishment. We don’t have to sin a million times to quality to be sent to hell. But because God is merciful and desires to show mercy, he devised a way that the sinful might not have to go to hell. This came about be the atonement of his sinless Son Jesus Christ.
Without Jesus’ atonement, God would no longer have remained just and holy when he forgave us. Because Jesus took our sins upon himself on the cross, God’s mercy could reach out to the worst of persons. Now God wouldn’t have to punish everyone for their sins. God’s mercy won out, because of Jesus’ great show of love and obedience to God his Father.
Grace is giving us what we don’t deserve. Without God’s grace we could not receive all of God’s great blessings. No one could go to heaven with a new glorified body like Jesus’ We couldn’t experience his holiness, his Christ-likeness, healing , deliverance or all of God’s other blessings. God is so good to show us so much mercy and grace. Are you daily enjoying these each day of your life? You can if you have Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for showing us such great mercy and grace. You are so good to us. Please help us to never stop telling how wonderful you are, and how much we love you. We ask this in Jesus’ name.
