I want to talk to you a little about the grace, mercy and love of God. 

It’s one thing to give mercy to a guilty person. It’s a whole ‘nother thing to give grace to a guilty person. Grace is by definition un-merited (un-deserved) favor, but God’s grace is not only extended to the righteous, but also to the guilty. This, of course, is completely on the basis of the offering of the perfect life of Christ at his crucifixion on our behalf. But it is still a wonder, and still very hard to accept – even for those who have been regenerated.  

God’s grace is greater than all of your sins. We are more than conquerors through him that loved us. If Adam didn’t sin there would be no mercy, forgiveness, healing, or redemption. 

We know that God doesn’t want us to sin. He never tempts us or lures us into sinning so that we can experience more forgiveness. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid! 

However, God knows in advance that we will sin. He can see beforehand the decisions we will make that will bring destruction into our lives. Why does he not stop us from making them!? Wouldn’t he stop us if he were truly loving and merciful? 

We may not understand it all, but we can rest assured that his heart is all love and favor. He designs that our failures will turn out for our good. The Father planned that the Son would come to die for our sins before Adam sinned. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us! Your good Father in heaven planned some good to come out of your failures before you made those bad decisions. 

Our worldly, man-centeredness thinks that it is only our successes and moral victories that bring good into our lives and that all of the pain and suffering in our lives we deserve. This is partly true and we should be very careful to not overlook those realities. However, this is not the whole story. God’s love and favor towards us is greater, more powerful, and more determined than our failures. 

God wants us to be at peace. He wants our hearts settled and resting in the full, unreserved, glad acceptance of the heart of God. He wants us to be able to look into his Eyes of kindness and joy towards us, not to look down in shame in his presence. We should be ashamed of our sins. But if we acknowledge them, confess them, turn away from them and turn to him – through Christ – then they are gone! This may at times even be a moment by moment exchange. Are you repentant? Look into His Eyes: behold his love for you. 

Don’t beat yourself up. Don’t think that any form of flagellation will bring you joy or bring pleasure to God. You cannot pay for your sins. It’s offensive to God when you try. The only thing God wants you to bring to the equation of salvation is your own sin and brokenness. Jesus paid it all. Isn’t he good? The Gospel really is good news. Believe it. Do you think the Gospel is actually more amazing news than you realize or less? It is much more unbelievable than we realize.

I pray today that your whole heart and soul would be baptized in the all encompassing, all-enveloping love of God; that tears would well up out of your heart and out your eyes, and that you would be able to say nothing less than, “Thank you Jesus. Thank you God;” that you would be assured deeply in your own heart that God is unbelievably good at all times and in all ways.           

He makes everything beautiful in his time (Eccl. 3:11).