Day 21

How God treats us has nothing to do with what we deserve.

‘Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.’ (1 TIMOTHY 1:2b)

Imagine you’re driving down the freeway at 140km and a policeman stops you. If he approaches your window and says, ‘Okay – I’ll let you off this time, but don’t do it again,’ the policeman has exercised mercy – he didn’t give you what you deserved.

In the same scenario, if the policeman said, ‘Okay, I’ll let you off this time. Oh, and here’s a chocolate bar for you to enjoy,’ that would be grace – he’s giving you what you don’t deserve. If we contrast grace with mercy, we begin to see the power of each.

If we compare them both with justice: Justice is getting what we deserve, mercy is not getting what we deserve, and grace is getting what we don’t deserve. We see the consequences of the cross of Christ. Jesus Christ satisfied the justice of God on the cross and took upon Himself what we deserve. As a result, He does not give us what we deserve - hence His mercy, but instead heaps upon us what we don’t deserve – His continuous supply of grace.

What have you been given today that you don’t deserve? What was held back as an act of mercy?