Devotion for September 10, 2024

“According to His great mercy.” (1 Peter 1:3)

Every dimension of life, whether physical or spiritual, is a testimony to God’s mercy.

When God saved you and granted you an eternal inheritance, it wasn’t because you were special or more deserving of His love and grace than others. It was because He sovereignly chose to love you and extend His great mercy to you. That’s why Paul said, “God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (Ephesians 2:4-5). He “saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy” (Titus 3:5).

Because of His great mercy, God addresses the pitiful condition of mankind. Unregenerate people are totally depraved, dead in trespasses, enslaved to sin, cursed to eternal damnation, unable to help themselves, and in desperate need of someone to show them mercy and compassion. That’s the good news of the gospel: God loves sinners and extends mercy to anyone willing to trust in Him.

Mercy tempers God’s justice. The Puritan writer Thomas Watson said, “Mercy sweetens all God’s other attributes … When the water was bitter, and Israel could not drink, Moses cast a tree into the waters, and then they were made sweet. How bitter and dreadful were the other attributes of God, did not mercy sweeten them! Mercy sets God’s power [at] work to help us; it makes his justice become our friend; it shall avenge our quarrels” (“A Body of Divinity”, [Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1978], p. 94).

The very fact that God permits us to live at all speaks of His mercy. Lamentations 3:22-23 says, “It is because of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness” (KJV).

No matter what your situation is, God’s mercy is more than sufficient for you. It “is great above the heavens” (Psalm 108:4, KJV). So be encouraged and look to Him always.

Praise God for His great mercy, for by it you have received eternal life and an eternal inheritance.

Prayer

Lord, I thank You for the gifts You have given me, especially the gift of eternal life through Your Son. I ask that you forgive me when I sin and stray from Your path, and let Your mercy wash away my stains. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Stay encouraged!

Pastor Mike

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