Many question God’s mercy.
How could a merciful God allow wars that since 3600 B.C. have resulted in an estimated 3,640,000,000 deaths?
Why do 16,000 children die daily from hunger-related causes— one child every five seconds?
Why is human trafficking surpassing illegal drugs as the primary source of income for criminal syndicates?
Am I saying that God is unfair? Certainly not!
The Lord told Moses that He has pity and mercy on anyone He wants to. Everything then depends on God’s mercy, and not on what people want or do.
In the Scriptures the Lord says to Pharaoh of Egypt, “I let you become Pharaoh. So that I could show you my power and be praised by all people on earth.”
Everything depends on what God decides to do, and He can either have pity on people or make them stubborn.
Someone may ask, “How can God blame us if He makes us behave in the way He wants us to?”
But my friend, I ask, “Who do you think you are to question God? Does the clay have the right to ask the potter why he shaped it the way he did? Doesn’t a potter have the right to make a fancy bowl and a plain bowl out of the same lump of clay?”
God wanted to show his anger and reveal his power against everyone who deserved to be destroyed. But instead He patiently put up with them. He did this by showing how glorious He is when He has pity on the people He has chosen to share in his glory. Romans 9:14-23
As His chosen people, disciples of Christ have been given a mandate by God to be His agents of mercy here on earth. If the evils of starvation, human trafficking and wars are rampant. It is because of our indifference and the absence of mercy.
Therefore, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. Luke 6:27-28
If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink. Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil with good. Romans 12:20-21
Clothe yourselves as God’s own chosen ones. His own picked representatives who are purified and holy and well beloved by God Himself.
Putting on behavior marked by tenderhearted pity and mercy. Kind feeling. A lowly opinion of yourselves. Gentle ways. Patience which is tireless and long-suffering and has the power to endure whatever comes. Colossians 3:12
The early Church turned the world upside down because it embraced who God said the Church is. We the Church are a chosen race. A royal priesthood. A holy nation. A people for His possession. So that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10
People who…
Refuse to embrace the culture’s definition of reality. The values, priorities and dreams that contradict God’s truth.
Refuse to worship anyone or anything other than Christ— the Son of the living God.
Have no illusions of grandeur. They understand God’s Kingdom is not a democracy. He alone decides the whos, whats, whens and whys of His Kingdom.
Come from every walk of life and embrace this social diversity. Distinctions of rank and social class are irrelevant. Even though we are many individuals. Christ makes us one body, and individuals who are connected to each other. Romans 12:5
Gratefully acknowledge Christ as the head of the Church.
Salvation is proof that God has not given up on His creation.
God was merciful! We were dead because of our sins, but God loved us so much that He made us alive with Christ.
God’s wonderful kindness is what saves you. God raised us from death to life with Christ Jesus, and He has given us a place beside Christ in heaven. Ephesians 2:4-6
We have everything we need to live a life that pleases God. It was all given to us by God’s own power. When we learned that He had invited us to share in His wonderful goodness.
God made great and marvelous promises so that His nature would become part of us. Then we could escape our evil desires and the corrupt influences of this world. 2 Peter 1:3-4
There is no god in heaven or on the earth as mighty as the God of all gods. He keeps His covenant and shows unfailing love to all who walk in wholehearted devotion.
Watching over them and protecting them from evil.
Punishing the guilty as they deserve and acquitting the innocent because of their innocence.
Hearing the prayers of the repentant by teaching them to follow the right path.
Manifesting His glory when His children cry out for it.
Today, more than ever, disciples of Christ are seeking God with a new found urgency. Because theirs is a generation that curses its father and does not bless its mother. That is pure in its own eyes. Yet is not washed from its filth.
How haughty its eyes and pretentious its looks. Whose teeth are swords. Whose fangs are knives. Devouring the oppressed from the land and the needy from among mankind. Proverbs 30:11-14
But the winds of Glory are beginning to blow. Many are hearing God’s reassuring voice.
“In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but I will have compassion on you with everlasting love. For this is like the days of Noah to Me. When I swore that the waters of Noah would never flood the earth again.
So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you or rebuke you. Though the mountains move and the hills shake. My love will not be removed from you, and My covenant of peace will not be shaken.” Isaiah 54:7-10
God is calling His Church to a life of purity and constancy in worship of Him. The One who forms mountains, and creates the wind. Who declares to man what His thought is, and makes the morning darkness. Who treads the high places of the earth. Amos 4:13
Who whispers into our hearts. “Don’t be afraid! I am the first and the last, the living one. I was dead, but now I am alive forever. I have the keys of death and hell.” Revelation 1:17-19
Join the growing multitude crying out to God, “Not to us Lord. Not to us. No, but to Your own name give glory because of Your loyal love and faithfulness!” Psalm 115:1
What you do on this side of eternity matters. Every good act and every kind word will never be forgotten because God remembers His promises.
Be God’s ambassador of mercy. A force the powers of darkness cannot extinguish because God’s river of mercy is continually flowing from you to others.
And never forget! It is in that moment. When you assume it is over that Salvation shouts from the throne room of eternity, “Let there be light in the darkness. Let this light shine in your heart.
I, Salvation am the promise of a new dream. A new life. A glorious future death cannot destroy. A life of excellence and legacy.”
GO DEEPER
Without God’s love and grace, innate selfishness makes us humans incapable of extending mercy to those outside our circle of influence. Making it easier to blame others or even God for the evil in the world. Than to acknowledge that the world’s woes are a direct result of individuals’ free will.
Within the past year, list 3 acts of mercy you have extended to those outside your circle of influence.
(Excerpt from I AM The Master Gardener)
I AM The Master Gardener e-book
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