Mercy Me part 2
The thing about mercy is that it is, by definition, undeserved. If you need mercy, that means you're in the soup. In the soup up to your eyeballs. You messed up, bad. And your only choice is to throw yourself at the mercy of the court. Get it? That's why that phrase exists. But now watch this--I quoted this verse yesterday but I just plain can't think of a better example of mercy--"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). When we were dead in our trespasses and sins... God gave us life. And not just any life. HIS life. The abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of Jesus. He gave us His only Son. He gave us Himself. He didn't just die for us, He rose again to live IN us. And through us. And as us. Jesus didn't just give His life FOR you, He gave His life TO you. Mercy and grace, right? Mercy is NOT getting what you deserve, and grace is getting what you don't deserve. Not getting the death sentence that religious folk think God was so eager to give out at the cross, but getting a literal life sentence. God's judgment against the world was not, "You're a sinner so I'm going to kill you." Again, we were already dead in our trespasses and sins. God's judgment was accepting Jesus' sacrifice and then raising Him (and us IN Him) FROM the dead. He gave us mercy. He showed us His love. And He gave us grace on top of it. The unmerited favor of God. Remember we touched on the idea of being God's elect, or the apple of His eye, or His favorite, in the last Rant series. He wanted the best FOR us, so He gave the best TO us. Not because we could do anything for Him, but simply because He wanted us to have it. Simply because He loves us. Because He IS love. And when you love someone, you don't kick them when they're down. When you love someone you reach down and help them up. You don't keep a record of wrongs. You don't make sure they get what's coming to them. You protect them. I think that's why I've always loved super heroes so much, and why I've always hated bullies so much. The idea of someone being mean to someone else is offensive to me. Especially someone powerful using that power to be mean. And, to toot my own horn a little bit, I've passed that on to my son. He always stands up for people. He's a big time fan of the little guy. The underdog. If someone needs help... Logan's got their back. Makes me a proud poppa. But I digress. My point is that since we have what people need, we ought not lord it over them. We ought not make them jump through hoops in order to get what they so desperately need. Because if you desperately need something, you probably can't jump through a hoop to get it. You're probably at the end of your rope. And if you are, I say tie a knot in it. Understand that as hard as you think you're holding on to God... fighting not to let go... He's been holding on to you from the very beginning. And He will NEVER let you go. When you had nothing to offer, He gave you everything He had. And everything He is. When you needed it the most, God showed you mercy!