Mundane Monday: Undeserved Mercy - Denise Pass
by | Feb 1, 2016 | affliction, Autoimmune Diseases, Believers, Body of Christ, calling, Chosen, Christian, Christian Encouragement, Christianity, Church, Comforter, counseling, counselor, Count Your Blessings, Deeds, Depression, Discipline, Family, Family Life, Fault, Flesh, Gifts, God, Gratitude, Healing, heals, Holy Spirit, Hope, Humility, inspiration, Israelites, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jewish, Joy, Joyful living, Justice, Kindness, knowing God, Life, Lord, Love, Matters, Mental Health, Mercy, Ministry, Moral, Peace, Peer Pressure, Perspective, Philosophy, Positive Thinking, Praise, Promises, Provision, psychology, Purpose, Radical faith, Recovery, Relationship, Religion, Resolutions, revelation, Salvation, Scripture, Sovereignty, Spiritual, suffering, Temptation, Thankfulness, Theology, Truth, Uncategorized, Victorious Christian Living, Worldview |
Inspirational Thought of the Day:
Mercy would not be mercy if we could earn it.
Scripture of the Day:
Romans 9:15-17
For he says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then, it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy. 17 For the scripture says to Pharaoh: “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”
Here it is, the beginning of a work week again. We labor not in vain, though, if we labor in the LORD. So often we work for our own glory or we try to attain favor or mercy based on merit. It makes sense that we should earn what we have sought so hard to achieve . . . or does it?
In one breath the verse above can be discouraging to the workaholics among us who try avidly to curry favor only to see another given grace unmerited; but the fact that God’s mercy could never be earned is beautiful.
Our righteousness is as filthy rags, and any insight or ability we think we have was given to us, so we trust in God’s sovereignty in the mercy he grants us in all of life. This is a vulnerable place to be and we can be tempted to cry, “not fair!” when a deed goes unrecognized, but resting in the perfect goodness of God and the reality of our deserved damnation causes us to fall to our knees in gratitude that God has mercy on us at all.
Mercy is evident throughout every part of our life, though it is often not perceived. We do not see what we have been spared from, and what blessings we have received we might take for granted. When we are tempted to become embittered at life’s vicious curve balls, may we remember what grace has been given to us – the obvious and the not-so-obvious mercies.
God’s mercy is not always seen as a blessing. Sometimes His merciful hand prevents blessings which could ultimately be our undoing.
But the most important mercy ever to be received is the salvation God offers. Every inclination of our hearts is steadfastly toward sin apart from the grace of God. What sweet grace opens our eyes to know that we are sinners and to receive His free gift of salvation!
We may never fully understand the mercy of God extended to us, but somehow in His sovereignty He chooses to reveal His mercy and love that we might know Him. Life is a vapor, but for all eternity we have mercy!
Jesus, thank You for saving me! Thank You for revealing my need of You. When things have not gone as I thought they should, Lord I thank You. Your mercies overwhelm me. You are good all the time.
