Thursday, December 10th
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead – 1 Peter 1:3
Over the next two days, we are going to look in to what it means to be reborn because of
Christ. Today, we want to look at this great mercy. Without Christ, we are helpless in sin. We are overwhelmed by our sin with no hope for the future. Yet, Christ has mercy on us. Being Holy, He has no requirement, no need to give us a second chance through the resurrection. Websters defines mercy as: “compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject to one’s power” some examples of this according to Webster’s are: “imprisonment rather than death imposed as penalty for first-degree murder” or “a blessing that is an act of divine favor or compassion” God in his mercy goes beyond simply lessening the sentence from death to imprisonment. God in his divine favor extends love to all who believe in His Son Jesus. Not only that but they are adopted into sonship.
When we look around at the world and see the depths of human depravity, and how each of us has individually missed the mark of perfection; it would stand to reason that a perfect god would want nothing to do with all our mess. But, even in spite of our mess, He chooses us out of love. He has given us a living hope through a sacrifice none other than His own. That is His mercy for you today!
Author Ian Jeffries & Tom Hartung
