Soaking in his mercy

I have been pondering the place of mercy in our lives. We are urged to 'love mercy' (but I think we love justice more??), to 'be merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful'. And that familiar passage in Romans 12 starts 'In view of the mercy of God - offer yourselves as living sacrifices.' My respose to this is to ask, "What is our view of the mercy of God?"

Unless we know how terrible is our fate without his mercy, we cannot appreciate how crucial and wonderful his mercy is. The fact is we do not deserve mercy. The consequence of our disdain and neglect of God is to be cut off from him and all that is good and lovely and right. We have such a benign view of what sin does in this age. But WE HAVE RECEIVED MERCY! That is stupendous and overwhelming and incredible. It says everything about him, and nothing about us.

An amazement at his mercy will melt our hearts, and soak us with gratitude. And the response of our heart will be to 'offer ourselves' to him without reservation. For we cannot surrender to one who we do not trust. But it is a delight to surrender to one who treats us with such loving-kindness, such tenderness, such intense compassion. We are safe in such merciful hands.

How will we know if we rest in his mercy? We will not hesitate to respond to him. He will not be a 'threatening judge' but a loving Father. We will find our hearts soaking in that tender loving-kindness. It will marinate our hearts and change the way we view our life, our world. We will view others with mercy and compassion. We will not judge or condemn or crush others. We will see past the hard shell to the wounded heart and the longing for tender love.

Ponder often on how kind he is, how loving he is, how merciful he has been.
"He does not count our sins against us." He has so ordained it that the death of Jesus paid for ALL our sin, past present and future.

Psalm 143:9-10 says "I remember the days of old, I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder on the work of your hands. I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land."
Remember...
Meditate...
Ponder...
Stretch out your hands...
Thirst for him...                          
We can do that - anytime - anyday. And a sense of his great mercy will wash over us, and gratitude and grace and blessing will flow. How wonderful.