Mercy!

Luke 6:27-36 But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.  Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Mercy for other people, as described above, basically means loving someone that doesn’t love you back. Being kind where you find no kindness. Going against everything inside of us that screams out when we’ve been wronged. Showing mercy isn’t for the faint of heart, the weak in spirit or sissies. Showing mercy takes a determined mind and heart to follow after Christ and follow His lead whether we feel like it or not. No one said living a Christian life is easy.

Acting like this requires a divine amount of grace-laced empowerment, so good luck if you are going to try it in your own strength. The very same Jesus who calls you to this type of life lives in you. This is the way He wants to live through you, and Christ is going to bless you for allowing His mercy to flow through you in a way that brings good things to those who don’t deserve it.

Pile It Up!

Romans 5:20 Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.

John North wrote: God’s grace is greater than all your sin – past, present and future! You might say, “You don’t know the failure in my life. I fail God; I ask forgiveness; then I turn around and fail Him again.” Maybe you’d say, “Even today before I started reading this devotional I failed God spiritually; and now I can’t even approach God because I know He doesn’t want to see me.”

Make a fresh start. In your mind right now, bring all of your sin together into a pile. Pile it up!

Bring the sins of your mind—your lustful thoughts, your anger toward people, your unforgiveness, your bitterness.

Bring your words—the hurtful things you have said to people, either in the distant past or just recently. Bring them all together.

Bring your laziness—the times you should’ve been in God’s Word, the times you should’ve been doing things for God and you ended up just wasting those hours.

Bring your actions—things you have done that you know you shouldn’t have done, or things that God called you to do and you didn’t do them.

Bring it all, everything you can think of, and pile it up until it seems as high as the loftiest peak you’ve ever seen! But that mountain of your sin will always be in shadow…because there’s a mountain behind it ten times as big—the mountain of God’s grace!

Attitude of Gratitude

2 Timothy 2:1 Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Oh, my goodness, did you see the moon last night or early this morning? What a sight! It was dazzling the night before, as well. I have always been excited by the moon but especially a full moon. I have taken mental trips back in time to a place when people didn’t have electric lights or even oil lamps and imagined how thankful they were for full moons. I enjoy walking around outside in full moons for the sheer magic of it but for those folks it must have been a blessing to have the darkness pushed back those few nights each month.

We take so much for granted, don’t we? People no longer have to make all our clothes by hand or down to a river to wash them as people used to do, yet we begrudgingly resent having to wash the ones we have. Oh, the torment of throwing them in the washer and dryer and having to fold or hang them up! We do not have to go out and shoot something just to have food for dinner but we sure can be put off by having to decide what to fix night after night. All this sounds rather silly but if we are honest with ourselves, we know it’s true. We take much of the blessings in our lives for granted.

What about grace? Do we as Christians take the redeeming grace of Jesus Christ for granted? Have we gotten so lackadaisical in attitude about grace that we are able to blow off accountability for our actions and choices by standing on a platform of grace? Do we symbolically re-sacrifice Jesus by living like hell when it suits us, dancing to the carnal tune of the flesh, then falling back on His grace and mercy when it’s time to pay the piper? ‘Jesus picked up my tab, I’m outta here. See ya!’ Doesn’t exactly ring with gratitude, does it?

We start taking things for granted when we cease to be consciously grateful for them. Imagine how relationships might change if we made an ongoing point to express an attitude of gratitude!     

Max Lucado said, “Gratitude!  It’s the firstborn child of grace, the appropriate response of the blessed. Immerse yourself in the curriculum of grace!  It’s so easy to be distracted.  So easy to be ungrateful!”

Sharing the Wealth

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

Andy Stanley describes grace as “added strength” and mercy as “a lightened load.” Edith Schaeffer shares similar thoughts in her book Affliction as she tells us that each of us has a unique role to play in the ongoing battle between Satan and God, for no two people in all of history have experienced the exact same set of circumstances. She encourages us to love and trust God regardless of our circumstances, whether He removes our affliction or proclaims as He did to Paul, “My grace is sufficient.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Charles Spurgeon wrote: There are some of your graces that would never be discovered if it were not for your trials. Do you not know that your faith never looks so grand in summer as it does in winter?. . . Afflictions are often the black foils in which God sets the jewels of His children’s graces to make them shine better. . . . God often takes away our comforts and our privileges in order to make us better Christians.

The last line of the quote from Spurgeon rings true in a personal way for me because it could be talking about my life. There was a season in time many years ago that God did just that, took away my job, home and my sons went to live with their dad all in one swoop. I was devastated and desperate. Then and only then did I finally fall to my knees and hand control of my life over to Him. I was a Christian, I believed Jesus died for my sins, I went to church but I held on tightly to my ‘control’ of my life. I can laugh now as I reflect back on how ignorant and helpless I really was as I floundered in my delusions of control but it was no laughing matter back then. It was a time of great darkness in my life. I had stumbled around in darkness for so long I didn’t even recognize it as darkness because it was all I knew. I can recall with clarity the moment I gave up ‘my control’ and offered it up to Jesus. Actually, ‘offered it up’ is an understatement…if I could have thrown it into Heaven I would have!

I believe God had to remove everything in my life that took my time and attention away from Him in order to prepare me for the role He had in mind for my service to Him. It is said you can’t wipe the tears of another until you have shed tears yourself. I believe it. If you do not know personally know the depth and intensity of agonizing, gut wrenching pain and loss, can you share in your neighbors sorrow or help hold them up as Aaron and Hur held the arms of Moses when he was weak and exhausted? Unless you know that sometimes the hurting only need a set of arms around them because you know that need personally, it is difficult to hold them when they cannot stand alone. I have long believed that hugging is a ministry in and of its self and far outweighs the ‘help’ of words.

Yes, there is a time for words of encouragement, a time to lead them to scripture, and a time to pray with and for them. We can give that support only because God first gave it to us.   

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

Fork in the Road

Matthew 15:24-26 - Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?  Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

Romans 8:12-13 - Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation--but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

Titus 2:11 - For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.

Luke 18:29-30 - "I tell you the truth," Jesus said to them, "no-one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life."

Yesterday I talked about how we need momentum to push to breakthroughs in our lives. One cannot happily be a couch potato and expect to become a marathon runner. One must run and run often, building endurance and perseverance when the body and mind says, “No more!” Nor can we wallow on the couch of sin and self-indulgence and expect a spiritual breakthrough in our lives and circumstance.

Sin and self-indulgence will compromise and slow the spiritual momentum required for our break through. But if we nourish the vision and cultivate the habit of pressing on to the higher calling, we’ll be inspired to forsake our sins and focus on the glory and joy of the Lord’s victory.

It occurred to me that sin and self-indulgence are like the two evil step-sisters from the tale of Cinderella. Where you find one, you’ll find the other; both wrapped up in ‘self’ and not caring how it affects others. You can clean and dress them up but they are still ugly, hateful and willing to sacrifice others to satisfy their own needs.

Titus 2:11-15 goes on to say…”For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.”

We cannot straddle the fence and live in both worlds – that of one seeking to live out Titus 2, following after Christ’s example and the world of sin and self-indulgence. One brings momentum to a higher spiritual breakthrough and the other leads to death and destruction.

Romans 8:12-13 - Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation--but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

That about says it all.