Perfect Gifts: Mercy

Our mistakes do not have to haunt us.

John 3:16,36 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 36 And anyone who believes in God's Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn't obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God's angry judgment."

John 8:7-11 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

11 “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

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Do you think that your life has been full of mistakes and poor choices and you think that God couldn't want to have a relationship with you? It's pretty easy to see that we all deserve some pretty severe consequences for the things that we have done against God but God does not want our relationship with him to be full of fear and despair.

As good and perfect as God is, we can easily see that we fall way short of his standard but we don't have to live with this hopeless situation hanging over our heads, in an incredible display of mercy, God has given us the opportunity to receive eternal life if we believe on his son.

We are as bad off as the adulteress with a group of Pharisees hanging around with rocks in their hands, God has the right to throw rocks at us and we deserve it just as much as she did but thankfully he has given us a way out of judgement.

God's love is merciful

Titus 3:3-5 Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. 4 But "When God our Savior revealed His kindness and love, 5 He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.

Sin takes us places that we really don't want to go and it cost us more than we think that it will but as Christ followers we have received the wonderful gift of mercy which completely eliminates the judgment that we deserve. It's hard to imagine a just God loving us so much that he would go to such great lengths to satisfy his demand for justice by sacrificing his own son.

"God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy."

Have you ever found a gift that you forgot that you ever received? Satan tries to get us to forget about this gift, he doesn't want us to live with victory over our failures instead he wants to keep us beat down with our guilt.

"Mercy Came Running" by Phillips Craig and Dean

I was bound by the chains, From the wages of my sin
Just when I felt like giving in,Mercy came running
Like a prisoner set free, Past all my failures to the point of my need
When the sin that I carried, Was all I could see
And when I could not reach mercy, Mercy came running to me. 

Thank you Lord for the gift of mercy through your son, help me to be merciful. I know that I need to re-gift this present.