The Unrestrained Mercy of God
In the midst of our trespasses and sins, God’s richness in mercy shines brightly. We were once dead, following the course of this world, but God, being rich in mercy, made us alive together with Christ. His very nature is to engage death and bring life – and that’s true for you, too.
A Heart of Tender Love
Perhaps, looking at the evidence of your life, you do not know what to conclude except that this mercy of God in Christ has passed you up. Maybe you have been deeply mistreated, misunderstood, or betrayed. But the evidence of Christ’s mercy toward you is not your life; it’s his – mistreated, misunderstood, betrayed, abandoned, eternally, in your place.
Open-Handed and Lavish
God is not tightfisted with mercy but openhanded, not frugal but lavish, not poor but rich. This means that your regions of deepest shame and regret are not hotels through which divine mercy passes but homes in which divine mercy abides. The things about you that make you cringe most make him hug hardest.
Unrestrained and Flood-Like
God’s mercy is not calculating and cautious, like ours. It is unrestrained, flood-like, sweeping, magnanimous. Our sins do not cause his love to take a hit; they cause his love to surge forward all the more. On that day when we stand before him, quietly, unhurriedly, we will weep with relief, shocked at how impoverished a view of his mercy-rich heart we had.
Receiving the Rich Mercy of God
If you have difficulty receiving the rich mercy of God in Christ, it’s not because of what others have done to you, but because of what you’ve done to torpedo your life. Maybe you’ve squandered his mercy, and you know it. But Jesus pours out more mercy. God is rich in mercy – that’s the whole point. Whether we have been sinned against or have sinned ourselves into misery, the Bible says God is not tightfisted with mercy but openhanded.
Coming to Jesus
You don’t need to unburden or collect yourself and then come to Jesus. Your very burden is what qualifies you to come. Jesus isn’t like you; even the most intense of human love is but the faintest echo of heaven’s cascading abundance. When you come to Christ for mercy and love and help in your anguish and perplexity and sinfulness, you are going with the flow of his own deepest wishes, not against them.
Leave a Reply