Day 26: Understanding God's Mercy

If you didn't get the memo, the blog is now officially caught up! Woohoo!

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I love the epic storytelling of Bible passages in the book (which are headed "Experience the Truth"). Very wonderfully told. The story in this chapter is about the sinful woman that worships Jesus in Simon the Pharisee's house. The whole parable about the two men being forgiven a debt and the implication of how that affects their gratefulness. . . it made me realize how truly ungrateful I can be sometimes towards God. The funny part is how we base our self-righteousness on very unstable ground. When we realize that the basis of all our lives is sin, and no matter what "type" or "how much" or how long we've been "clean" or saved or whatever, EVERYONE is on equal ground, because NONE of us can measure up to God's standards, we realize how foolish it is to look at the way someone else worships God and thumb our nose at them. Age, marital status, career, none of it matters in the end. It is how we are seen in God's eyes that truly gives meaning, and when we stop looking at ourselves and others with that in mind, we forget about God's grace and mercy and step out into the land of selfishness. He has bridged the gap for ALL of us, regardless of our upbringing, our sins, our desires, our interests. . . all of it, used for His glory! What response is there but the highest amount of gratefulness we can muster! And think about how smart this is: if we could earn grace, then we would have every reason to become judgmental towards those who have not earned it. How perfect, then, that we have to come to the point where we realize that it is ONLY through God's gift of grace and mercy that we can become His children!

The analogy using Jean Valjean's stealing silver and then bring brought back to the bishop, who then gives him candlesticks as well? That's a perfect picture of propitiation (look at that alliteration! Also, the link is to my first camp entry: the second major paragraph talks about this idea): a situation where the party at fault is not only given what they didn't deserve in the first place, but even more! What Christ did on the cross is truly an overpayment. And our lives ought to be a direct reflection of that. Everything we do, everything we say, every decision and every relationship should be completely filled with His grace.

Point to Ponder: God wants us to be merciful because he is merciful.
Mind-bogglingly merciful. What an honor to be able to show even just a part of that to the people in our lives.

Verse to Remember: Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast."
This is one of those childhood verses I hold on to from AWANA, which has changed a lot since I've been in it. "Not of works". . . that's a hard thing for our society to swallow, since we are all "You can do what ever you want to if you work hard enough!" I don't disagree with that mantra when applied to career, family, or anything else Earth-based, but unfortunately it doesn't compare to the power of God's grace and the riches of His mercy. And what is more humbling than being told that you can never measure up to something?

Question to Consider: Have I accepted God's gift of merciful forgiveness and the grace to live a new life?
I have been starting to really "get" this in my life, though I'm still constantly learning a ton, and as long as I don't let my life get way off track, I think I will continue to do so.