Gleanings (12/22/11) – Mercy Wrapped in Swaddling Clothes
Luke 1:67-80
“Through the tender mercy of our God.”
What’s your view of God? Is He the clock maker that wound us up and set us in motion and who now observes from afar with little interest in the details of our lives? Or is He the harsh judge who hovers above with a terrible bad sword waiting to take us out for our transgressions?
Scripture speaks of another God, one who reveals salvation, the forgiveness of our sins, through tender mercy. God is motivated from within by his own prevailing mercy. He is not satisfied to allow our rebellion and its consequences to have the last word.
Too often we expect justice. We live with a sense of dread that the other shoe is going to drop. Even more often we want justice for those who have wronged us. Grace (mercy) for me and justice for him!
But God is coming to us desiring mercy for us, giving it to us out of His own nature, tender mercy. Mercy is ours to receive and mercy is ours to give.
What stands in the way of our receiving it? For not receiving it is the only thing that stands in the way of us giving it. Mercy begets mercy.
Open that gift this Christmas. Let mercy wash over you like a flood.
December 23rd, 2011 at 8:48 AM
This lesson was included in the first sermon I heard you preach. Applying it opened my eyes to the burden lifted by forgiveness not just for the forgiven but so much for the one offering forgiveness and mercy. Merry Christmas!
December 23rd, 2011 at 9:14 AM
So good to hear from you Jim for the second time now in a week. You are missed.
For me personally this lesson of mercy needs to be revisited daily, recalling what I want and need and how it empowers what I am expected to give. Considering all that is going on in our mutual Anglican world, twice daily may be in order.
Blessings to you and Jean for a Merry Christmas.