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Point of Reference
by Fred Price
At its core, mercy is a favor extended to those in need who are incapable of helping themselves and maybe more to the point, are often undeserving of it; which makes mercy an act of pure grace. Grace encompassing a number of attributes, such as the unmerited love and favor of God, as well as describing the divine influence acting in men to make them pure and good, equipping them with certain talents and abilities to be used to bring glory to Him through ministry to others.
The main problem people have today with the concept of mercy is their inability – or unwillingness – to acknowledge their need of it. Because while we’re all capable of perceiving that there’s a problem with the human condition, individually our attitude is more like that of the rich young man of Mark 10:17-22; who claimed – in a discussion with Jesus about the qualifiers for inheriting eternal life – to have kept all the requirements of the Law. Rather than being humble and contrite like the penitent tax collector of Luke 18:9-14, who beseeched God to have mercy on him as he confessed his sin and need of a Savior. The primary impediment to our seeking mercy is our disbelief in any real and impending consequences to our sin. Even as Paul assures us that, “…the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life (through the grace to be found) in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23
Christ’s merciful dealings with us, as meaningful as that is, should never dull the realization that the consequences of sin are so catastrophic that a miracle was required to overcome them, the demands of justice having to be met before the offer of salvation could be extended. When we lose that sense of dire need, we fail to feel any sense of urgency concerning salvation or gratitude for its offer – which was realized through His humiliation, torture, and death – questioning whether God really cares about what we do or don’t do, taking lightly his command to repent. Some going so far as to assert – if He exists at all – it must be his job to forgive. After all, scripture does repeatedly depict Him as condemning sin while almost in the same breath repenting of his anger and threatened punishment; promising forgiveness, redemption and mercy. (See Hosea 11:1-9) What we often overlook is that the sentence of punishment is often meted out over time that can stretch to decades and even centuries, with the possibility and hope of forgiveness and redemption held out for those who – in humility and contrition – repent of their sin and turn to God with a desire to place themselves within his will.
Make no mistake, God wants to forgive, but he doesn’t do so automatically nor can we compel him to do so through ritual observances or good deeds, manipulating him into doing what we wish or need. The only way we can “deserve” mercy is by acknowledging him as our Lord and Savior through repentance, which allows for the redeeming work of grace to make something of us we weren’t before.
There’s a reason God refers to those who fail to acknowledge him as being depraved (See Ephesians 2:15 & Romans 1:29); and why Jeremiah was led to declare, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9 But that’s a rather strong characterization, isn’t it? Are we really all that bad? We would like to think, all things considered, that we’re really not and play all kinds of mental games to convince ourselves that we could never be considered evil. But when we realize, as Mark Galli says, “We have before us the almighty and all-loving God, in whose image we’ve been created, in whose being we are sustained moment by moment, in whose love we are invited to bask – and we give ourselves to every dime-store god (Mainly money, sex and power) that comes along promising us a new thrill.”1; we will raise our hands in shame and plead for mercy.
It’s not just that we’re “bad to the bone,” even though we are predisposed to sin because of the lingering effects of a selfish sin-nature. (Which has been crucified with Christ but which none-the-less reasserts itself during times of weakness or inattention in our lives. See Galatians 5:24) For instance, we often get overwhelmed by the, “…worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desire for other things (that) come in and choke the word, making it (and us) unfruitful.” Mark 4:14-19 Forgetting that we are, “…not to love the world or anything in the world… for everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world.” 1 John 2:15,16; we become rootless, our faith quickly withering away – Satan snatching away the seed we intended to care for and harvest to God’s profit as well as our own, leaving us unfulfilled and of little use to God or ourselves. All this happening because we ignore the fact that, “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” 1 John 2:17
Thinking it no longer worthy to retain the knowledge of God and thus, exchanging the truth of God for a lie, our reasoning becomes foolish and our hearts dark. (Romans 1:21,22 & 28) Even so, God loved us enough to send his Son to rescue those who repent and believe. (John 3:16-18; Ephesians 2:14,15) As such, “Mercy triumphs over judgment!” James 2:13 The demands of justice being met in the only perfect sacrifice available to meet the expectations of the Law; qualifying him to then assert his own will in our lives. John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim’s Progress, warning that failure to heed God’s call to “Follow me” is the, “…dare of his justice, the rape of his mercy, the jeer of his patience, the slight of his power, and the contempt of his love.”2
Mr. Galli characterizing the long-suffering nature of mercy when he writes, “It’s not just that our motives, even at their best, are mixed. It’s that in the end, we have no idea how holy mercy is and how often we profane it.”
“God is such that he looks at our ridiculousness, our convoluted piety and confused contrition, our blasphemy of mercy – and he just gives up. ‘These people just don’t get it’, he says. ‘They never will. They’re hopeless.’ Then he throws up his hands – and stretches out his arms, and embraces us in mercy. Pure, unadulterated mercy. We continue to squirm in his arms, like a child who thinks he’s too grown up to be hugged, but if we’ve got any sense at all, we won’t try to break free.”3
1Mark Galli, A Great and Terrible Love, Baker Books
2From an 1861 edition of a compilation of John Bunyan’s works
3Mark Galli, A Great and Terrible Love
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Fred Price - married (50 years), father of two grown children, grandfather of six.
Fred retired earlier this year after 42 years as a factory worker. He has always had a heart for young people and the challenges they face today. Over the years Fred has taught Discipleship Groups for High School and college students.
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