During this Christmas season, I paid close attention to television commercials. I diligently watched for that perfect gift I might otherwise miss! Well, I did not find that "I can't live without it" present, but I noticed a troubling, pervasive message in this year's advertising. One evening I heard the phrases "You deserve this," or "It is your right to"... over 15 times! I was disgusted that advertisers are brainwashing gullible adults and teaching our impressionable children and grandchildren this detrimental concept of entitlement.
Romans 8:4 warns us, "Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires."
Scripture tells us that we deserve hell. Yes, you read that correctly. Our sinful nature since the falling of Adam and Eve affords us the right to live in hell for all eternity. That is what we deserve.
"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," Romans 3:23
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23
Knowing what I deserve and then realizing that God has specifically chosen to extend an extraordinary mercy to me overwhelms me. My heart literally overflows with gratitude.
Mercy is unmerited grace, compassion, and kindness. It is God's forgiveness of His creatures' offenses.1
Easton's Bible Dictionary defines mercy as:
"compassion for the miserable. Its object is misery. By the atoning sacrifice of Christ a way is open for the exercise of mercy towards the sons of men, in harmony with the demands of truth and righteousness (Gen. 19:19; Ex. 20:6; 34:6, 7; Ps. 85:10; 86:15, 16). In Christ mercy and truth meet together. Mercy is also a Christian grace (Matt. 5:7; 18:33-35)."2
Ponder that sentence, "In Christ mercy and truth meet together."3 The truth according to a Holy Lord is we deserve hell for all eternity, yet in His loving mercy, our LORD has provided the perfect atoning sacrifice (HIMSELF) to cleanse us of all guilt once and for all.
Just thinking about our LORD's mercy, kindness, compassion, and grace fills my inner being with love, my eyes with tears, and my mouth with praise.
Psalm 103:1-5; 8-18
1 Praise the LORD, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the LORD, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
15 The life of mortals is like grass,
they flourish like a flower of the field;
16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
17 But from everlasting to everlasting
the LORD’s love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children’s children—
18 with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.
"His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations." Psalm 100:5 NKJV
"Jesus died…on purpose. No surprise. No hesitation. No faltering…
The journey to the cross didn’t begin in Jericho. It didn’t begin in Galilee. It didn’t begin in Nazareth. It didn’t even begin in Bethlehem. The journey to the cross began long before. As the echo of the crunching of the fruit was still sounding in the garden, Jesus was leaving for Calvary.
So what is mercy all about? It's not about me, and it's not about you. It is all about Jesus and His finished work on Calvary!"4 Max Lucado
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for your abounding love, which you clearly manifested to us through your extension of mercy. Keep me from ever being conned into believing that I "deserve" or have the "right to" anything that is not clearly gifted to me by you. Protect me from the sin of entitlement, so I may spend my days praising you for the grace you have bestowed upon me. Amen!
1. mercy. Dictionary.com. Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mercy (accessed: January 02, 2011).
2. mercy. Dictionary.com. Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mercy (accessed: January 02, 2011).
3. mercy. Dictionary.com. Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mercy (accessed: January 02, 2011).
4.online devotion by Max Lucado, Everlasting Mercy, posted 09 Dec 2010 10:09 PM PST.
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