Tag: Mercy

It pleases you?

For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself. (1 Samuel 12:22, ESV)

How is it, Father, that though I am so unfaithful at times and can fail you so greatly, you still don’t forsake me?

How is it that it still pleases you to make me yours.

That’s amazing to me: it pleases you to make me your child?

So Father, let me always fear you and serve you faithfully with all my heart. Help me to always consider what great things you have done for me. Especially the cross. Help me to never take that for granted.

Thank you for your incredible goodness toward me.

Tags God's child, God's goodness, grace, Mercy

1 Samuel Devotionals

Our faithful Priest

If one person sins against another, God can intercede for him, but if a person sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” (1 Samuel 2:25)

I was thinking on those words this morning.

There is someone who can and does intercede for us when we sin against God.

God raised up Jesus to be our faithful priest forever. (1 Samuel 2:35; Hebrews 2:17-18; 7:23-25)

When I think of all the times I’ve grieved God by my sin, that is an amazing thought.

Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. (Romans 8:34)

Tags faithful priest, grace, Jesus, Mercy

Judges Devotionals

Faithless heart

Israel was greatly oppressed, so they cried out to the LORD, saying, “We have sinned against you. We have abandoned our God and worshiped the Baals…Deal with us as you see fit; only rescue us today! ”

So they got rid of the foreign gods among them and worshiped the LORD, and he became weary of Israel’s misery. (Judges 10:9-10, 15-16)

I was wondering today just how sincere the Israelites’ repentance was. At a guess, not very.

And God clearly knew that.

Yet ultimately, he showed them mercy.

The amazing thing is that God hadn’t allowed them to be destroyed long before. But as he would tell them later through the prophet Malachi,

Because I, the LORD, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed. (Malachi 3:6)

That’s comforting to me. Though God knows my faithlessness, he remains faithful.

That said, I don’t want to be like the Israelites. I want to be as faithful to God as he is to me.

Father, please cure my faithless heart.

Tags faithless heart, God's faithfulness, Israelites, Mercy

Mark Devotionals

Father, am I brittle?

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost as well as the skins. No, new wine is put into fresh wineskins. (Mark 2:22–23)

Father, is it possible that I could be as brittle as that old wineskin? So brittle that I would burst should you try to pour the wine of your Spirit into me in order to touch others?

Brittle because I lack your compassion and mercy for the hurting? (5, 17)

Brittle because I’m too busy judging those around me? (15-16)

Brittle because I’m too often comparing my “spirituality” to that of others? (18)

Father, change me into a new wineskin that you can freely pour your wine into. I don’t want anything you pour to be wasted.

Tags comparisons, compassion, judging, Mercy, new wineskin, old wineskin

Luke Devotionals

More than willing

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’s knees and said, “Go away from me, because I’m a sinful man, Lord! (Luke 5:8)

I found Peter’s words above interesting. He spoke almost like a leper.

Lepers were required by God’s law to say to anyone who came near them, “Go away from me. I’m unclean.” (Leviticus 13:45-46)

But in Luke 5, a leper actually drew near to Jesus and said, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Jesus was willing and cleansed the leper of his disease.

More significantly, by his grace, he cleansed Peter and the paralytic of their sins.

And in Matthew’s case, Jesus was not only willing, he actually went chasing after Matthew.

In the same way, Jesus chased after us. Though we had gone our own way, treating Jesus like a zero, he went to the cross for us, paying the price for our rebellion.

Now when we come to him asking for mercy, as with the leper, Jesus says to us, “I am willing. Be clean.”

Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

Tags forgiveness and mercy, grace, leper, Mercy, Peter, Sin

John Devotionals

First loved

For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

I reallly like this translation.

Most translations read, “For God so loved the world…” and it can be translated that way. But usually, the Greek word for “so” would be read not as “so much,” but as “in this way.”

John uses different words in his letter, but expresses the same idea.

God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him.

Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice, for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10)

Paul says something similar in Romans 5:8.

But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The amazing thing is that God didn’t wait for us to turn to him before he showed us his love. Rather, he first turned to us. Not in judgment, but in mercy.

I wonder. How shocked was Nicodemus that Jesus said God demonstrated his love for the world by sending his Son.

It’s possible that his only concept of God sending his Son was to judge the world for its rebellion (Psalm 2).

Had Nicodemus ever considered that the blessed people in Psalm 2:12 could apply to those nations who had once been rebellious but had repented because of God’s love for them shown through his Son? Had the psalmist?

I don’t know. But let’s always remember the most amazing thing about John 3:16. God first loved an unrepentant, rebellious world, and sent his Son to save it.

And that includes us.

Take time to ponder that today. Ponder John 3:16. Ponder 1 John 4:9-10. Ponder Romans 5:8.

Ponder this truth and bathe in it: “God first loved me.”

Tags eternal life, faith, first loved, God, God's love, grace, Jesus, judgment, Mercy

Matthew Devotionals

The disciples we’re raising

Post author By Bruce
Post date October 28, 2024
No Comments on The disciples we’re raising

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to make one convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a child of hell as you are! (Matthew 23:15)

The Pharisees and scribes, needless to say, were terrible disciple-makers.

But Jesus’ words made me think, “What kind of disciples am I making? Of my daughter? Of the other people God has placed in my life?”

Do I ever put heavy loads on their shoulders that are hard to carry, and just tell them, “Good luck?”

Or are they people that know mercy as well as justice and faithfulness? (Matthew 23:23)

Do they see that mercy in me?

More importantly, do they know God’s mercy to them? Do they rest in that mercy? Do they rejoice in it?

And do they in turn show mercy to those around them?

Or are they constantly hard on themselves and just as hard on others?

Father, I want my daughter, my wife, and the people around me to see in me someone who is just and faithful.

But I also want them to see someone who is full of mercy. Who walks in your mercy and shows others that same mercy.

Help me to make disciples like that: disciples who know your mercy and show that same mercy to others.

Tags Bible Original, disciples, faith, forgiveness, God's mercy, Jesus, Mercy

Matthew Devotionals

What do you want?

“What do you want?”

That’s the question you essentially see three times in this chapter.

The landowner asked that question of the workers when they negotiated terms for working for him. (Matthew 20:2)

Jesus asked that of James, John, and their mother. (Matthew 20:20-21)

And Jesus asked that of the two blind men. (Matthew 20:31-33)

In the first two cases, people asked for what they thought they deserved. A denarius for a day’s work. To sit in places of power beside Jesus.

But the two blind men didn’t ask for what they thought they deserved. Instead, they asked for mercy. They asked for grace.

I’m sure James and John were disappointed when Jesus didn’t give them what they asked for. (Though they probably weren’t so disappointed when they weren’t the ones crucified on Jesus’ right and left. They truly didn’t know what they were asking).

The workers, ironically, were bitter that they got exactly what they asked for.

But the two blind men found the joy of God’s mercy and grace.

God’s kingdom isn’t about what we deserve. It’s all about God’s mercy and grace toward us.

When we focus on what we “deserve,” we often find ourselves disappointed, angry, or bitter.

But when we seek God’s grace and mercy, we realize just how good he is. Because he’ll always gives them to us in abundance.

What do you want?

Tags Bible Original, grace, Jesus, Mercy, what we deserve

Matthew Devotionals

When we are “unclean”

Right away a man with leprosy came up and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Reaching out his hand, Jesus touched him, saying, “I am willing; be made clean.” (Matthew 8:2–3)

Leprosy was a terrible disease in Israel. It made people “unclean,” outcasts from society, and as such, they were banned from God’s temple. (Leviticus 13:45-46, Numbers 5:2-3).

In that way, leprosy is a picture of sin. It makes us spiritually unclean and breaks our relationships with God and others.

But the man in this story approached Jesus and said, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

And in his mercy and grace, Jesus touched him and said, “I am willing. Be clean.”

Often times after we sin, we wonder if God could possibly forgive us, if he could possibly accept us after what we’ve done.

And so we come before him trembling, saying, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Jesus says the same thing to us as he said to that man.

“I am willing. Be clean.”

So, children of God, let us approach his throne with confidence, knowing that we will receive mercy and find grace in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

Tags Bible Original, faith, forgiveness, grace, healing, Jesus, leper, leprosy, Mercy, Sin

Acts Devotionals

I have a hope

I have a hope in God, which these men themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection, both of the righteous and the unrighteous.

I always strive to have a clear conscience toward God and men. (Acts 24:15-16)

Father, I have a hope.

A hope that death is not the end. That there will be a resurrection.

I have a hope, Father.

A hope that there will be a day of judgment. A day when every evil deed will be judged by you.

I have a hope, Father.

That on judgment day, I need not fear. That for me there is no condemnation because of the blood of Jesus.

I have a hope.

And so I strive to keep a clear conscience before you and and the people around you, not out of fear, but out of love and gratitude toward you.

Let my life be holy and acceptable to you today, a sweet smelling incense.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, Hope, judgment, Mercy, resurrection

Isaiah Devotionals

The God who “mercies” us

In this Easter season, it’s good to think about why Jesus had to die.

This passage is interesting in that on one hand, Isaiah prays that God would rend the heavens and come down, revealing himself to the nations.

At the same time, he recognizes that should God do so, it would mean judgment not only for Israel’s enemies, but for Israel itself, because the people had turned their backs on God.

And so he prays,

Lord, do not be terribly angry
or remember our iniquity forever.

Please look—all of us are your people! (Isaiah 64:9)

That prayer reveals why Jesus had to die. Jesus bore the wrath of God for us on the cross. And it’s because of Jesus and what he did there that our sins are forgiven.

The translation of verse 4 into Greek (which is the translation the early church used) is very interesting.

It says something like, “From eternity, we have not heard, nor have our eyes seen any God except for you, and your works that you do for those waiting for mercy.

The ultimate work of God’s mercy toward us was shown on that cross.

Paul seems to see it that way. Talking about the cross, he paraphrases Isaiah 64:4.

What no eye has seen, no ear has heard,
and no human heart has conceived—
God has prepared these things for those who love him. (1 Corinthians 2:9)

The cross was no tragic accident. It was God’s plan from eternity past to save us, to “mercy” us.

That’s an awesome thing.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, cross, Mercy

Isaiah Devotionals

To be a father like You

For the High and Exalted One,
who lives forever, whose name is holy, says this:

“I live in a high and holy place,
and with the oppressed and lowly of spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly
and revive the heart of the oppressed.

For I will not accuse you forever,
and I will not always be angry;
for then the spirit would grow weak before me,
even the breath, which I have made.” (Isaiah 57:15-16)

Father, thank you that you are not a God who is distant and uncaring, but a God who is near and full of compassion.

Thank you that you are a Father that is not always accusing, not always angry.

Rather, you see my weaknesses, and have mercy on me.

Let me be such a father to my daughter. Let her see what kind of Father you are as she looks at me.

I want to be like you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, fathers, Mercy

Matthew Devotionals

Merely pointing fingers?

They tie up heavy loads that are hard to carry and put them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves aren’t willing to lift a finger to move them. (Matthew 23:4)

The Pharisees and scribes had a habit of pointing out others’ sins.

But one thing they never did was reach out with compassion to those burdened with their sin.

And it made me think, “Am I as quick to help people who are struggling with their sin as I am to point our their sin?”

I believe Paul was thinking of Jesus’ words when he wrote,

Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted.

Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:1-2)

Father, unlike the scribes and Pharisees, I don’t want to be a person who merely points out others’ sins. May I instead have Jesus’ heart toward those struggling with their sins. Give me his heart of mercy towards them. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, carrying burdens, Mercy, pointing fingers

Matthew Devotionals

Our heart, our message

[Jesus] said, ‘It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice.

For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners. (Matthew 9:12-13)

As I was reflecting on Jesus’ words, I thought about what our heart should be toward non-Christians who come to our churches.

We should have hearts of mercy towards them. They are like sheep without a shepherd, harassed and cast down by the Enemy.

We shouldn’t be avoiding them. We should be reaching out to them, showing Christ’s love to them.

At the same time, we have a message for them. Jesus came to call sinners. But what does he call them to do?

Luke is a little clearer about that in his account of this story. Jesus said,

I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Luke 5:32)

Love does not tell people, “It’s okay to stay in your sin.”

Love tells people, “Repent.”

It was Jesus’ message from the beginning. (Matthew 4:17)

It’s what Jesus told Matthew and the other tax collectors and sinners while he was talking with them over dinner.

It’s certainly what he told Zacchaeus and his friends. (Luke 19:1-10)

So as we encounter non-Christians in our church, let us take on Jesus’ attitude, welcoming them, and showing love and mercy to them.

But at the same time, with humility and gentleness, let us share with them the same message Jesus did with Matthew and his friends.

“God’s kingdom is near. There is a God who loves you and is inviting you to join his kingdom. So repent of your sins and turn to him. And you will find life.”

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, Matthew, Mercy, repentance

Romans Devotionals

I don’t understand

I will call Not my People, My People,
and she who is Unloved, Beloved.

And it will be in the place where they were told,
you are not my people,
there they will be called sons of the living God. (Romans 9:25-26)

Lord, I don’t always understand your ways. I don’t understand why you choose to show mercy to some and harden others. We’re all sinners with hardened hearts. Why not judge us all?

I don’t understand why you would choose Jacob over Esau. Both were terribly flawed people. Why choose either of them to be the ancestor of the Messiah?

I don’t understand why you would choose to judge Pharaoh and the people of Egypt and to show mercy to Israel. Both rejected you time and again. Why not destroy both in the Red Sea?

And I don’t understand why you would choose me. I deserve to be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah were.

Yet for some reason, you chose to love me, to call me as one of your people, and to make me your son.

I don’t understand, Lord. But I’m grateful.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, judgment, Mercy

James Devotionals

Living by the law that gives freedom

Post author By Bruce
Post date August 17, 2022
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Speak and act as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has not shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. (James 2:12-13)

Lord, you have called me to live by the law that sets people free: the law of love and mercy.

Let me be a person that shows love and mercy to others, and in so doing, setting them free.

Free from feelings of inferiority, of being somehow less valuable than others. (1-4, 6)

But even more importantly, free from their bondage to sin, and fear of your judgment. (Romans 6:5-7; 1 John 4:17-18)

And as I show your love and mercy to those around me, may they all come to know the glorious freedom of the children of God. (Romans 8:21)

I can claim to have all the faith in the world. But without love, love that shows itself through my words and actions, that “faith” is nothing. I am nothing. (14-26, 1 Corinthians 13:2)

So today, Lord, and every day, let my life be marked by the love and mercy you have shown me.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, law of freedom, love, Mercy

Exodus Devotions

God’s character

“The LORD—the LORD is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin.

But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6-7)

This is one of the most famous passages in the Old Testament and is constantly repeated throughout it.

Why? Because it shows the Lord’s character.

It’s easy to look at some of the stories in Exodus and the other books of the Old Testament and to see God as a God of wrath.

There is some truth to that. God hates sin and he will punish it.

After all, can a good God love sin? Can a just God leave sin unpunished?

But God is also “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth.”

Have you ever noticed that for all the times that God judges people, he always tells his people about it first?

He did that with Abraham (Genesis 18).

He did that with Moses. (Exodus 32).

Why tell them? Simply so that they could observe God’s justice?

No, he told them so that they could intercede. And both of them did.

In both cases, justice still came. The unrepentant were judged.

But in both cases, people were saved because of Abraham and Moses.

God will judge evil. But he would much rather show mercy than judge.

That’s why he sent Jesus. Jesus paid the price for our sin so that God could show us mercy.

So like Moses, let us boldly draw near to God with unveiled faces.

We don’t need to fear his judgment and wrath as we approach him.

Instead, as we draw near to him, by his grace, God transforms us more and more into the likeness of his Son. (2 Corinthians 3:12, 18)

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, God of wrath, God's character, Mercy

Psalms Devotionals 2

Because the Lord is faithful and merciful

Post author By Bruce
Post date March 25, 2022
No Comments on Because the Lord is faithful and merciful

The Lord will perfect that which concerns me;
Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever. (Psalm 138:8, NKJV)

I really like how the NKJV translates verse 8. It brought me right back to the verse I mentioned yesterday.

I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)

Why could David and Paul be so certain of this? Because of their own goodness and faithfulness?

No. It was because the Lord’s mercy, his steadfast love endures forever.

So let us sing with David,

I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
before the gods I sing your praise;

I bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness. (1-2, ESV)

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, God's faithful love, Mercy

Psalms Devotionals 2

Not mere servants

Behold, as the eyes of servants
look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maidservant
to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God… (Psalm 123:2-3a, ESV)

It’s easy to look at those words and think, “We as God’s servants are to constantly be looking at God, seeing what he want us to do.”

And that’s true. We should do that.

But that’s what makes the second part of verse 2 so jarring.

till he has mercy upon us. (2b)

The psalmist then cries out,

Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,
for we have had more than enough of contempt. (3)

The wondrous thing about our relationship with God is that he doesn’t look at us as mere servants. He sees us as his precious ones. He truly cares for us.

And when we cry out to him, we can know he’ll hear, he’ll answer, and he will show us mercy.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, God's servant, Mercy

Psalms Devotionals 2

Our need for God’s grace.

Post author By Bruce
Post date October 19, 2021
No Comments on Our need for God’s grace.

One thing that always strikes me in this psalm is David’s passion for God and his Word. He loved God and desired to live a life pleasing to him.

And yet, today, I was thinking about just how much David recognized he needed God’s grace as well.

He cried out,

If only my ways were committed
to keeping your statutes! (Psalm 119:5)

And he admitted,

I wander like a lost sheep. (176)

So time and again, he asked for God’s grace.

He asked that God would teach him. (12, 29,33, 66, 68, 108, 124)

He prayed God would open his spiritual eyes. (18)

He asked for understanding. (27, 34, 73, 125, 144, 169)

He asked for help to obey. (35)

He prayed for a heart that was inclined to God and his Word. (36)

He prayed for eyes that would turn away from sinful things. (37)

And he prayed that God would deal with him based on His own grace and steadfast love. (58, 124)

None of us are perfect. All of us need God’s grace in our lives. So each day, let us pray as David did in this psalm.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, God's word, grace, Mercy

Psalms Devotionals

Marked by Christ’s character

Post author By Bruce
Post date October 11, 2021
No Comments on Marked by Christ’s character

In verse 1, the psalmist says,

“Happy is the person who fears the LORD,
taking great delight in his commands. (Psalm 112:1)

But what does that kind of person look like?

The Pharisees claimed to be such people. And yet while you could say they had a form of righteousness, you could not say they were marked by graciousness or compassion.

A person who truly fears the Lord, who truly takes great delight in his commands, are marked by all three things: graciousness, compassion, and righteousness.

That’s what Jesus was like.

Too many Christians embrace the commands of God, and yet throw out graciousness and compassion.

On the other hand, other Christians embrace graciousness and compassion at the expense of God’s righteousness.

“Oh, those commands aren’t for today. God does not really expect you to live that way.”

As Christians, we need to be marked by all three.

May we all be marked by Christ’s character.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, compassion, Mercy, righteousness

Acts Devotionals

Seeing things as they really are

Post author By Bruce
Post date September 6, 2021
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Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. (Acts 7:55)

Father, in this crazy world, I need to be filled with your Spirit. It is so easy to look at this world and think that things are out of control. That you have lost control.

But Stephen saw things as they really are. He saw you sitting on your throne, Father. And he saw you Jesus, standing by his side.

And because of that, despite his circumstances, despite how people treated him, Stephen was filled with joy, mercy, and grace.

So Holy Spirit, dwell in me. Fill me. Lead me. Guide me. Help me see things as they really are.

And as I do, fill me with the joy, mercy, and grace that this world so desperately needs.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, grace, joy, Mercy, See things as they really are

Luke Devotionals

The wrong question

We see in this passage a very famous story: the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Jesus and an expert in the law had been talking about loving God and loving one’s neighbor. And in trying to justify his failure to love his neighbor, the expert asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”

I think it’s interesting that Jesus never answered that question. Why not? Because it was the wrong one.

What then is the right question?

Jesus, after telling the story, asked the expert, “Who was the neighbor to the man attacked by the robbers?”

The expert answered, “The one who showed mercy to him”.

Upon which, Jesus said, “That’s right. Go and do the same.”

In short, the question is not, “Who is my neighbor,” as if we can pick and choose who to love.

The question is “Am I a neighbor? Am I a mercy-giver?”

And if so, we can’t pick and choose who to love. We just love and show mercy to everyone around us.

I admit: Like the expert in the law, there are times I struggle mightily to do that. Some people just aren’t very “loveable.”

That’s why I need a Savior. We all need a Savior because none of us keep God’s command to love perfectly.

That, by the way, was the main point that Jesus was trying to make before the expert tried to justify his own failures to love others.

I don’t want to be like that. Do you?

Lord Jesus, you loved me enough to save me and show me mercy. By your grace, let me be a neighbor, let me be a mercy-giver to those who are hurting around me.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, Mercy, neighbor

1 Peter Devotionals

Proclaiming the praises of the one who called us

Post author By Bruce
Post date April 29, 2020
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Yesterday, we talked about who we are in Christ. Peter expands on that even more in this chapter.

He says in verses 9-10,

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession…

Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)

As Christians, we are to reflect on these things. Reflect on the grace and mercy God has given you, but also on who has he called you to be: his people and his priests.

And as his people and priests, remember why God in his grace and mercy chose us:

…so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (9b)

We are not meant to keep our salvation to ourselves. We aren’t meant to simply say, “I’m so glad I’m a child of God.”

We live now in a world darkened by sin and all the pain that comes from it. The people around us need hope.

So as God’s people, as God’s priests, let us proclaim God’s praises to those around us that they too may come out of darkness into God’s marvelous light.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, God's people, grace, Mercy, priests

2 Timothy Devotionals

Living by the gospel

One thing that Paul wanted Timothy to remind the Christians is to live by the gospel. What does that mean?

It means that we daily remember the goodness and loving kindness of God toward us. That when we were lost sheep who were far from him, he saved us.

He saved us not because we were good sheep doing good things.

He saved us because of his mercy. He washed us and made us into new people through his Holy Spirit.

And it is because of that grace, we stand justified before him.

What is the result of remembering all this? It fills our hearts with thanksgiving and causes us to want to please him. Paul says,

I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. (2 Timothy 3:8)

Take some time to read all of Titus today (it’s very short), and see how many times that theme of God’s people doing good works is repeated.

But remember: We are not trying to impress God with our good works. We are not trying to prove ourselves to him by these works. We have already been accepted and loved by him.

And when we remember that, we can’t help but want to please our Father.

Do you feel you have to prove yourself worthy to God? To your pastor? To your parents? To others?

That’s not living by the gospel. To live by the gospel is to rest and rejoice in the love and grace of our Father.

If you have constantly feel you have to prove yourself worthy, you’ll eventually get tired and worn out. If you rest in the Father’s grace and love, pleasing your Father will be your joy.

How about you? Are you living by the gospel?

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, God's approval, gospel, grace, Mercy

2 Timothy Devotionals

What we have in Jesus

Paul wrote this letter not long before he was put to death by Nero. It’s that fact that makes his first words to Timothy more than a little meaningful.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, for the sake of the promise of life in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 1:1)

The promise of life in Christ Jesus.

So often when we go through trials and struggles in life, we focus on those trials and struggles instead of what we have in Jesus.

And we all have so much in Jesus.

Paul tells us three of those things we have in verse 2: grace, mercy, and peace.

Paul expands on what he means in verses 9-10:

The Father saved us and called us to be his own, not because we are somehow more innately special or different than anyone else, but because of his own purposes and grace.

Through Jesus’ work on the cross and the blood he shed there, we now have peace with God. And in him, God has now abolished death and given us life and immortality.

None of us know why God would choose us. I certainly don’t.

But there are two things we do know with certainty:

We didn’t deserve to be chosen.
God’s choice is not arbitrary.

It’s not as though God callously says, “I chose this one, but I don’t choose that one.”

Rather, according to purposes too mysterious and deep for any of us to fathom, he looked upon us in love, and said, “I choose you.”

That’s amazing.

So whatever you’re facing this day, whatever struggles, whatever tears, whatever worries, remember what you have in Jesus.

And be strong, not in yourself, but in the grace you have already received. (2:1)

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, grace, life, Mercy, peace

2 Samuel Devotionals

How we see God

This past Sunday, I was preaching on the Sermon on the Mount, and in particular, Matthew 5:7-8.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (ESV)

I wonder if Jesus was at all thinking of the words of David when he said this.

With the merciful you show yourself merciful;
with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;
with the purified you deal purely,
and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous. (2 Samuel 22:26-27 — ESV)

How do we see God?

Some people see God as tortuous. For example, they look at how God passes judgment on people in scripture and they call it unfair.

Or, ironically, they see how God shows mercy on the undeserving and again scream, “Unfair.”

Why? Because they themselves are twisted in their thinking.

All you have to do is look at society and you can see the twistedness of people’s thinking.

What God calls sin, they call acceptable and good. And so when God condemns and punishes such sin, they scream that he is being cruel or unjust.

On the other hand, when people wrong them, they think it only natural to “punish” them in return. And if God shows grace and mercy to the person that wrongs them, they again scream that he is unjust.

But what they fail to realize is that all of us are worthy of God’s wrath. All of us are in need of God’s mercy.

It’s why Jesus died on the cross. He took the punishment for all our sins so that we could receive mercy.

And it’s those who realize and accept this that find that mercy and are transformed.

They accept God’s standards for good and evil and seek to follow them.

When they fall, they repent.

Because they themselves have received mercy, they extend it to others.

But as long as people fail to accept that God’s standards are good and right, as long as they fail to understand that they themselves are in need of God’s mercy, they will always see God as tortuous.

They will criticize God when he condemns and punishes sin in the world and criticize him when he shows mercy to those they feel are unworthy.

They “punish” those who sin against them and get angry when God punishes their own sin.

How about you?

When you see God, do you see him as tortuous, unfair, and unjust?

Or when you see him, do you see his purity, his mercy, and his grace?

How you see him is how you will respond to him.

How do you see God?

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, Mercy, purity

2 Samuel Devotionals

A channel of grace and mercy

Post author By Bruce
Post date June 28, 2018
No Comments on A channel of grace and mercy

As I read Mephibosheth’s words in this passage, “What is your servant that you take an interest in a dead dog like me?” (2 Samuel 9:8) it reminded me of David’s words to God in chapter 7.

Who am I, Lord God, and what is my house that you have brought me this far? (2 Samuel 7:18)

Why was David so filled with grace and mercy towards Mephibosheth? Because David himself had received so much grace and mercy from God.

If we do not truly grasp the wonder of God’s grace and mercy in our lives, we are not likely to be channels of that grace and mercy to others.

I know that I need to grasp God’s grace and mercy much more in my life.

How about you?

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, grace, Mercy

1 Samuel Devotionals

Mercy and Grace

As I look back on my older blogs, particularly on the Old Testament, I think I looked for a lot of practical, moral lessons.

I think to some degree that is fine. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that these things are written as examples for us and for our instruction. (I Corinthians 10:1-13)

But as I’ve noted before, Jesus said that all these things in the Old Testament also point to him. (Luke 24:25-27, 44-47).

And so as I look at the life of David, especially as the ancestor of Jesus, I see pictures of our Savior.

Here is David, who committed no sin or crime against Saul, who in no way was rebellious, and yet was persecuted by Saul. (1 Samuel 24:11)

He seemingly had every right to kill Saul, and yet instead he showed mercy. Though Saul committed evil against David, David repaid him with good, and so Saul told him,

Now I know for certain you will be king, and the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand. (1 Samuel 24:20)

In so many ways, this is a picture of Jesus.

Jesus was sinless, and did no wrong. And yet we wronged him, rebelling against him. But unlike David, who in reality had no right to kill Saul, Jesus had every right to destroy us for our sin. And yet he showed us mercy.

Though we rebelled against him, though we sinned against him, he repaid us with good, taking our punishment on the cross.

And that is the biggest contrast between Jesus and David. David pleaded to God to judge between himself and Saul. And God eventually repaid Saul for his sin.

But when God judged between Jesus and us, he placed the judgment we deserved on Jesus.

As Paul put it,

But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

And because of what Jesus did, Jesus is king, and all will be established in his hand. For as Paul also said,

For this reason God highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow—
in heaven and on earth
and under the earth—
and every tongue will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, David, grace, Mercy, Saul

Jonah Devotionals

Better to die?

What’s striking in this passage is Jonah’s attitude toward people headed for destruction in contrast to Jesus’.

When God spared the Ninevites because of their repentance, Jonah was furious. He wanted them to perish.

After all, they were the enemies of the Jews. And since the Jews were God’s people, weren’t the people of Nineveh enemies of God?

So when God showed mercy to the Ninevites , Jonah screamed, “Lord, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

It strikes me that Jesus said the very same thing to the Father, but for very different reasons.

Jesus saw us hurting because of our sin. He saw a people headed for hell.

And with great love and compassion, he said to the Father, “Father, take my life from me. For it is better for me to die on the cross for their sins, than to simply live here with you and watch them die.”

That’s the love Jesus had for you and me.

May we have that same compassion for those who are perishing around us.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, Jesus, Jonah, Mercy

1 John

When we fall

We saw yesterday that though we are children of light and are called to live that way, we do fall at times. And when we do, if we confess our sins and repent, God will forgive us. (1 John 1:9)

Here in these two short verses, we see the basis of that forgiveness.

John tells us,

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense — Jesus Christ the Righteous One.

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1-2)

Again, John emphasizes here that as children of light, we are not to live in darkness. But he then comforts us by saying that if we do fall into darkness, we have someone who defends us. That Jesus himself stands before the Father as our defense attorney.

What is the basis for his defense of us? His atoning sacrifice for us on the cross. What does that mean exactly?

For a lot of pagan cultures, they made sacrifices to appease the wrath of the gods and regain their favor.

John uses the same picture here…with one huge difference. It is not us who makes the sacrifice that appeases the wrath of God and makes him see us with favor once again. Rather, it is God the Father himself who sent his Son as a sacrifice.

As Abraham once put it in a story that foreshadowed his heavenly Father’s work,

God himself will provide the lamb for the [sacrifice.] (Genesis 22:8)

And so God did on the cross. He provided the lamb, Jesus Christ the Righteous One. Jesus who never sinned or did anything wrong, took the punishment for our sins. And as Jesus was on that cross, God poured all his wrath on him.

The result? Jesus now stands with us before the Father and says, “Father, I have paid the price for their sins and failings.”

And the Father answers, “That’s right.” And not only does he dismiss our case, he pours out his love upon us once again.

That’s mercy. That’s grace. It belongs to all who are truly his children. And it comes to us through Jesus Christ.

How then can we not live lives of gratitude for the one who saved us? How can we not want to be like him?

Tags atonement, Bible Original, Bible verse, grace, lamb, Mercy, sacrifice

Hebrews

Why we can dare to draw near

Post author By Bruce
Post date December 21, 2015
No Comments on Why we can dare to draw near

How would you like to have your whole life exposed for all to see? Nothing hidden. Your life an open book for the world to see?

Now think of standing before God on judgment day with that book open before him and him asking, “What do you have to say for yourself?”

The writer of Hebrews tells us,

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:11-13)

That is a scary thought. Not only will every action will be exposed, but every thought, every attitude will be laid bare before God. There will be no hiding of anything on the day of judgment.

If you’re totally honest with yourself, that ought to scare you to death. And yet, we can dare to draw near to God. Why? Because of Jesus.

The writer continues,

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet was without sin. (4:14-15)

We saw before that Jesus blazed the path to salvation before us as our pioneer. And now he goes before us into heaven before the Father to intercede for us.

And when the Father sees him, he delights in him. He’s not like some judges who have an adversarial relationship with criminal defenders. Rather, he himself appointed Jesus as our priest. (Hebrews 5:4-6)

More, when Jesus stands before the Father, he intercedes for us with compassion because he understand all we go through.

He understands temptation. He understands how difficult it is to follow the Father’s will in a world as broken as we live in.

While he was on earth, daily he offered up prayers with loud cries and tears before the Father. And at the garden of Gethsemane, he sweated blood in his anguish to obey the Father’s will.

He knows how hard it is. And yet, he obeyed his Father in everything, to the point of going to the cross. And now, he has become our source of salvation if we will just follow in the path of faith that he has blazed for us (Hebrews 5:7-10)

And when we falter, when we act ignorantly and waywardly, he deals with us gently, picking us up and setting us back on the right path. (5:2-3)

For all these reasons, the writer of Hebrews now tells us,

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

Do you have that confidence standing before God? Or do you feel like God is always looking down on you, ready to blast you for your sins?

Cast those fears aside. Jesus stands with you. He took your punishment for you. Punishment is no longer waiting for you. Rather, mercy and grace await you.

So draw near to the Father, knowing he loves you and will welcome you as his precious child.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, grace, Intercession, judgment, Mercy, sympathy

2 Corinthians

When Jesus returns

In Paul’s warning to the Corinthians in this passage, I see a warning to us as well.

Paul told them,

I already gave you a warning when I was with you the second time.

I now repeat it while absent: On my return I will not spare those who sinned earlier or any of the others,since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me.

He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you.For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power.

Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him in our dealing with you. (2 Corinthians 13:1-4)

When Paul had last visited the Corinthians, he came in weakness.

In other words, he didn’t come exercising his authority, but rather with tears, suffering rejection by the Corinthians and grieved by their sinful attitudes. This, though he had laid down his life for them.

But now he was saying that when he came back, he would not come in weakness, but in the power of God, exercising the authority God had given him to judge the Corinthians.

And he warned them, “I will not spare those who sinned earlier or any of the others.” (2 Corinthians 13:2)

Jesus says the same thing to us. When last he came, he came in weakness.

He came as a man, a poor carpenter and itinerant teacher. He came not as a conquering king, but as a crucified Savior.

But by the power of God he was resurrected and the day will come when he will come back. And when he comes back, it will not be in weakness, but in power.

More importantly, when he comes back, he will not spare those who continue to reject him. Rather, he will bring judgment.

The problem with many people today is that they simply see Jesus as the loving Son of God who sacrificed everything for us to show us how much he cares for us.

That’s true. He did.

But they forget that when he comes back, he will come back in judgment. The time for mercy for those who reject him will be past.

He will no longer simply be the Lamb of God, but the Lion of Judah, the king who will reign forever. And those who continue to rebel against his rightful rule will face his wrath.

And like Paul with the Corinthians, he will not spare any who continue in their rebellion. (See Luke 19:11-27, in particular verses 14 and 27)

So the question you and I have to ask ourselves is this: Have we submitted to Christ’s rule in our lives? Or will we continue to live in rebellion to him?

God is patient with us. But that patience will not last forever.

Let us not test the patience of God in our lives but rather accept his mercy and grace while we still can.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, Christ's return, judgment, Mercy, patience

2 Corinthians

When there is repentance

When someone hurts us it can be easy to hold a grudge. And even if they are truly sorry and apologize, sometimes we withhold that forgiveness.

Or sometimes we forgive, but we let them know in no uncertain terms that it hasn’t been forgotten.

The same is true in church discipline. Someone sins, and is disciplined by the church. They then repent, but people in the church still look sideways at them and keep their distance from them.

It’s almost as if we’re saying, “We can’t make it too easy for them to get back in our good graces again. We have to make them suffer a little more, and then maybe, just maybe we’ll accept them again.”

But Paul tells us here that’s not how we should be. He wrote the Corinthians,

The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him.

Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.

I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. (2 Corinthians 2:6-8)

What did Paul mean by “the punishment inflicted on him is sufficient for him”?

I believe it means that the punishment has accomplished its purpose: he repented.

And once a person repents, there is no further need for the punishment. Instead, we are to immediately forgive and comfort him, letting him know that not only has God forgiven him, but we have forgiven him as well.

Having done that, we are to then reaffirm our love for him.

God wants us to mourn for our sins. But as we will see later in this letter, there are two kinds of sorrow: a sorrow that leads to repentance and a sorrow that leads to death.

But a sorrow that leads to repentance can also lead to death if that person sorrows excessively due to the fact that the people in the church refuse to forgive him or her. The same is true in personal relationships as well.

And that is not something that God wants; it’s what Satan wants. Satan’s schemes always have the same end in mind, “to steal, kill, and destroy.”

When we refuse to forgive a person and leave them in excessive sorrow, we are participating with Satan, not with God.

How about you? Has someone hurt you? Or has someone committed some grave sin within the church?

Have they repented? If they have, then let us join in with God in showing forgiveness and acceptance to them once again.

Remember the words of our Lord who told us,

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:36)

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, forgiveness, Mercy, repentance, restoration

Romans

The problem and wonder of election (part 3)

Post author By Bruce
Post date March 6, 2015
No Comments on The problem and wonder of election (part 3)

In the last blog, we talked about how God basically tells people, “I have determined to judge you. Now prove me wrong. Prove that you’re not worthy of destruction.”

And he waits patiently for their response.

We see this kind of thinking in Ezekiel as well. God told Ezekiel,

As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.

Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel? (Ezekiel 33:11)

And again,

And if I say to the wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ but he then turns away from his sin and does what is just and right… he will surely live; he will not die. None of the sins he has committed will be remembered against him. (Ezekiel 33:14-16)

The problem again though, is that no one does turn. They just go from bad to worse.

We see this with Pharaoh. God first brought warning and then judgment to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh didn’t soften his heart. He didn’t repent. He deliberately hardened his heart.

You see this in Exodus 7:13 and 7:22, 8:15, 8:19, 8:32, and 9:7.

Then in chapter 9 verse 12, you see for the first time, the words “the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh.”

It was at that point, after countless hardenings by Pharaoh himself that the Lord said,

I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. (Exodus 9:16; Romans 9:17)

But after that declaration and one more brief softening in which Pharaoh said he’d let the Israelites go, we see in 9:34 that once again, Pharaoh himself hardened his own heart.

And from that time on, you see it is the Lord himself who hardens the heart of Pharaoh.

God, in effect said, “That’s what you want to do? You want to harden your heart against me? Fine, I’ll help you along with that process.”

Could God have done more to change Pharaoh’s mind? Could he have shown mercy to the point that Pharaoh changed?

Probably. But to say that God was under any obligation to do so would be completely off.

The only thing that God was obligated to do was to punish Pharaoh for his sins. And that’s what he did.

The wonder of grace is this: That we were exactly like Pharaoh.

We continually hardened our hearts toward God and yet he did not choose to leave us to our own depravity. And he most certainly did not give us what we deserved.

Rather, he kept showing us mercy and grace to the point that we “broke” and responded in faith and love towards him.

So stories like Pharaoh’s are not meant to make us look down in judgment upon the people who were judged and condemned. Rather, as Paul said,

God did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory. (Romans 9:23)

In other words, we are to look at these people and their stories and marvel that though we were just like them, yet God chose to save us.

That though we were not his people, God called us his own and made us his children. That though we were not his beloved, yet he chose to shower his love upon us. (Romans 9:24-27)

That’s the wonder of grace.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, election, grace, hardening of hearts, Mercy

John John 18 Luke Luke 22 Mark Mark 14 Matthew Matthew 26

Power and authority, mercy and grace

Post author By Bruce
Post date October 16, 2014
No Comments on Power and authority, mercy and grace

In this passage, there are three things I see in Jesus.

1. His power and authority. Though surrounded by his enemies, he was in total command of the situation. Standing to face his enemies, he asked them, “Who are you looking for?”

And when they said, “Jesus of Nazareth,” he answered, “I am he.” (John 18:4-5)

At this, his enemies immediately fell to the ground at his use of the divine name. (Exodus 3:13-14; John 8:58)

What fear must have struck their hearts at that moment? Jesus then asked again, “Who are you looking for?” (John 18:6-7)

Completely shaken and with a lot less confidence in their voices, they answered, “Jesus of Nazareth,” and probably braced themselves to be knocked down again.

But instead, Jesus simply said,

I told you that I am he… If you are looking for me, then let these men go. (John 18:8)

And though they went up to arrest him, I don’t think there was any doubt in their minds who was truly in control of the situation.

2. His mercy. Jesus’ disciples, however, perhaps thought to take advantage of their enemies’ uncertainty, and one of them cried out,

Lord, should we strike with our swords? (Luke 22:49)

Not waiting for an answer, Peter dashed up and chopped the ear off of one of the men that had come to arrest Jesus.

(Either he had very good aim going for the ear and hitting it, or he was trying to slice the guy in two, and missed. I kind of think it was the latter).

But Jesus rebuked his followers, and told them,

Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? (Matthew 26:53)

There’s an old song that says Jesus could have called 10,000 angels to destroy the world and set himself free.

Actually, the songwriter miscalculated. 12 legions would be more like 48,000 to 72,000 men. (Then again, maybe the songwriter just thought ten thousand sounded better).

Whatever the case, the point is Jesus could have destroyed them all. But he showed mercy to them. He spared their lives, and in fact, ultimately gave up his life for theirs.

3. His grace. While mercy is not giving a person the punishment he deserves, grace is the giving of something the person does not deserve.

And Malchus, the high priest’s servant, found Jesus’ grace as Jesus took Malchus’ severed ear and restored it. (Luke 22:51)

It was the last healing that Jesus ever performed here on earth. Physically, anyway.

For it was through the cross that Jesus brought spiritual healing. And by his grace, our sins are forgiven, and we can find eternal life. And he gives it to anyone who will believe.

Power and authority. Mercy and grace. Are there any better descriptions of our Lord?

Tags authority, Bible Original, Bible verse, grace, Mercy, power

Matthew Matthew 25

Parable of the sheep and goats: How we treat others

Post author By Bruce
Post date September 15, 2014
No Comments on Parable of the sheep and goats: How we treat others

Jesus finishes his dialogue on the end times with this last story. And it talks about the final judgment following the tribulation.

At that time, God will judge the nations, separating the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

Considering the context, it seems God will specifically judge the nations for how they treat his people during the tribulation.

Some, who out of their love for God and faith in Jesus, work to help them in their time of need will be blessed and welcomed into the kingdom.

But those who participate in their persecution, or who simply turn a blind eye to them will be condemned.

But there’s a broader application that we can get from this. For as much as people will be judged for how they treat God’s people during that time, we will be judged for how we treat them in the here and now.

Jesus said,

The King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ (Matthew 25:34-36)

And when these people asked when they did such a thing for him, the King will reply,

I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me. (Matthew 25:40)

But to those who did not help others in their time of need, he will say,

I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. (Matthew 25:45)

When we see our brothers and sisters in Christ in need, how do we react? Do we reach out to them in the love of God? If we do, we do so to Christ.

But Jesus says that if we instead turn a blind eye to them, we are turning a blind eye to Christ and we will be held accountable for it.

John wrote,

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:16-18)

Jesus has given us so much. He laid down his own life to give us life. How then can we not do the same for others?

Let us turn a blind eye to Jesus no longer, but reach out and touch the lives of those he loved enough to die for.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, judgment, Mercy

Luke Luke 18 Mark Mark 10 Matthew Matthew 20

Looking beyond ourselves

As I read the story of Bartimaeus and his friend, what strikes me is the incredible compassion and love Jesus had for people.

Here Jesus is, headed for the cross, and his closest friends, despite all he’s told him, still don’t understand what’s about to happen.

In that situation it would have been understandable for him to get lost in his own thoughts, frustrations, and anxieties. But as he is walking along, he hears a familiar cry.

Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us! (Matthew 20:30)

It would have been so easy to miss. And even easier to ignore, pretending that he didn’t hear these two men over the crowd. Particularly since the people around these men were telling them to shut up.

But instead, Jesus stopped, and said, “Call them.”

And when these two men came up to him, he asked, “What do you want me to do?”

They replied, “Lord, we want to see.”

And Matthew tells us that Jesus was filled with compassion for these two men, touched them, and healed them.

Instead of focusing on his own troubles and frustrations, Jesus saw beyond himself to the needs of those crying out for help.

I wonder. How often do we see beyond ourselves and see the needs of others as Jesus did.

How often do we instead only look at ourselves and our needs and frustrations? And because of that we either miss or ignore the opportunities we have to reach out with God’s love.

I found out yesterday that Robin Williams died, apparently from suicide. Here was a man that brought so much laughter and even comfort to others. And yet, he was also a man tortured by his own demons.

And I wonder, “Was there a Christian in his life that missed that chance to minister to him?”

Maybe there wasn’t. And if there was, I’m not saying that I’m condemning them for missing that chance. Because I have missed too many opportunities of my own. I’ve failed.

May we learn to be like our Savior. Looking beyond ourselves long enough to see the needs and hurts of those in our lives. And like our Savior, reaching out with the hand of God to bring healing in their lives.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, compassion, healing, Mercy

Luke Luke 11

What’s in the heart

Here in Luke 11:37-44, Jesus gives a blistering criticism of the Pharisees. And basically what it came down to was what was in their hearts.

The Pharisees looked so good on the outside. They were so careful to keep the law. But inside, they were full of hypocrisy.

One thing Jesus pointed to was the greed that stained their hearts. Oh, they gave their tithes to God, down to the herbs they grew in their gardens.

But when they saw a person in need, they walked by without a second glance. Their love for money far outweighed their love for those around them.

They also were so quick to pass judgment without really looking at the situation through God’s eyes.

One example was their criticism of Jesus’ healings on the Sabbath and the unjust way they not only treated Jesus, but those he healed (John 9).

In so doing, they forgot the words of Micah who said,

With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil?

Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He has showed you, O man, what is good.

And what does the LORD require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:6-8)

Jesus called them on all of this.

But he also pointed out the stain of pride in their hearts. That the reason they desired these positions of leadership was not to serve the people, but to be seen as important.

And because of these things, he called them unmarked graves which men walk over without knowing.

Why was that so bad? Because graves were unclean by Jewish law. To touch them was to make yourself unclean. (Numbers 19:16)

So Jesus was saying to these Pharisees, “Not only are you unclean, but you make everyone you come into contact with unclean too.

Worse, these people don’t even know that they’ve been made unclean because they think you’re righteous.”

Harsh?

Yes. But the truth often is. And the thing is, these people needed to know that while they were fooling others, they certainly weren’t fooling God, and they were headed for disaster unless they repented.

And so are we if we are merely “clean” on the outside but filthy on the inside.

It’s not enough to do religious things. To go to church. To tithe to the church.

These things are not enough when all the while, you’re filled with pride and greed, lacking the love of God in your heart. And not just lacking love for God, but lacking God’s love for those around you.

God sees beyond the exterior into your heart. And he is looking for people after his own heart.

What’s in yours?

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, exterior, greed, heart, justice, Mercy, Pharisees, pride

Luke Luke 10

Going beyond the head knowledge

Post author By Bruce
Post date June 11, 2014
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As I look at this passage, there is one more thing that strikes me.

This is a story about three people that knew God’s word very well. One, of course, was real (the expert in the law), and two were fictional (the priest and the Levite).

Is it any coincidence that Jesus used two people in his story that had the same problem as the expert in the law?

Because though all three knew the law well, though all three could probably rattle off answers to any question about the Bible Jesus gave them, it never went beyond head knowledge for any of them. It never went to their heart as to what it all really meant.

How else do you explain the priest and the Levite in the story passing by the hurt man?

They didn’t truly understand what it meant to love God with all their heart, and to love their neighbor. Rather, they made excuses for their failings, namely, their lack of love.

The expert of the law was the same way. When confronted with the law, and seeing his own failings in the matter, he didn’t repent and cry out, “Jesus, what do I do? I can’t meet the standards God has set up!”

Instead, he tried to justify himself for his lack of love and turn what Jesus meant to be an issue of the heart into an intellectual debate, asking, “Well, what does ‘neighbor,’ mean?”

So when Jesus explained the meaning, and even had the man answer his own question, he brought it back to his heart. “Go and do likewise.”

What did the man do after that? We don’t know.

I’ve mentioned this before, but I think the gospel writers often wrote this way to challenge us. What are we going to do with what Jesus said?

It is not enough to have head knowledge. It is not enough to be able to quote the Bible backwards and forwards. You need to live it. It needs to sink into your heart and change you.

Here’s another question. Did the Samaritan in the story see the actions (or lack thereof) of the priest and the Levite?

This person who only had a distorted view of who God really was, who mixed his religion with false ones, what did he think of the priest and the Levite? Particularly when he acted more godly than they did?

And when people see us, and compare us to themselves, what do they see? Do they ask concerning us, “How can they be so loving? How can they be so merciful? I want to be like them.”

Or do they say, “Is that what a Christian is? I’m better than they are.”

Let us not be merely people filled with head knowledge. Rather let us let it sink into our hearts and live it.

Let us not simply live lives of going to church on Sunday and doing religious things. Rather let us live lives of mercy and grace that others may see Christ in us and desire him too.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, grace, head knowledge, Mercy

Luke Luke 10

To love in deed and truth

Post author By Bruce
Post date June 10, 2014
No Comments on To love in deed and truth

As I read this passage, the words of John spring to mind when he said,

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:18)

We see this in the “Good Samaritan.” How did he love in deed and truth?

First, he overcame the prejudices of his own culture.

One of the most shocking things to any Jew listening to this story was that it was probably Jews that beat up this man, and Jews, a priest and Levite no less, that refused to help this man in need.

But a Samaritan, someone who was absolutely loathed by the Jews for his mixed racial and religious background, sees the need of this Jew, and his compassion overpowers any feelings of prejudice he might have.

Which leads to the second point, his compassion led to action.

It’s one thing to look with sorrow on one who is hurting. It is another thing altogether to actually reach out and touch that person. What did he do?

He went to this man. (Luke 10:34a)

He soothed this man’s hurt. (Luke 10:34b)

He went out of his way to minister to this man’s need, taking him to an inn, and then caring for him through the night. (Luke 10:34c)

He even used his own resources to take care of this man. (Luke 10:35)

And Jesus tells us as he told the expert in the law, “Go and do likewise. Have mercy on those that you see in need around you.”

It’s so easy, though, to make excuses as to why you can’t. You’re too busy. You probably couldn’t help even if you wanted to. Or you’ve got more “important things to do.”

That’s probably what the priest and Levite thought.

Perhaps they thought he might be already dead, in which case, they might become ceremonially unclean (according to God’s law) if they touched him, making it impossible to carry out their duties at the temple.

And so these “duties” overcame any pity or compassion they may have had for the man.

Or maybe they just thought, “It’s not my responsibility. I’m no doctor. What can I do?”

Whatever their excuse, they forgot the words that God had spoken to Hosea.

I desire mercy, not sacrifice. (Hosea 6:6)

How about you? What do you do when you see others in need? Do you see them, but then walk by. Do you pray, but fail to go to them and actually do what you can to meet their needs? Do you make excuses for why you don’t go to them.

Let us live lives of mercy, remembering that that’s the kind of heart God wants to see in us. Let us not simply love with words or with tongue, but in deed and truth.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, love, Mercy

John John 7 Luke Luke 9

A time for judgment, a time for mercy

Post author By Bruce
Post date May 25, 2014
No Comments on A time for judgment, a time for mercy

I mentioned in the last blog that there will be people that hate us because of the truth that we represent.

I also said it’s important how we consider how we say it, and the spirit with which we talk to people.

We see the importance of this in this passage.

After Jesus’ brothers went to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus stayed behind for a while. For how long, we don’t know, but finally he went up.

From this time forward, most of his ministry appears to be done in Jerusalem and Judea, and it would be about six months before he would be crucified.

Before he reached Jerusalem, however, he passed one last time through Samaria. He had previously gone through Samaria, and had had great success early on in his ministry. (John 4)

But this time, the reception was much different. When he sent messengers ahead of him to prepare for his coming, the people rejected him because he was headed for Jerusalem.

There was still much antipathy between the Jews and Samaritans, and this was perhaps the main reason for their rejection of him.

The disciples were outraged. Here Jesus deigned to reach out to these Samaritans who, in the disciples’ minds, deserved nothing from him. And yet, they rejected him.

The disciples put up with the Samaritans from the other village (John 4) because they had accepted Jesus. But when this village rejected him, James and John said to Jesus,

Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them? (Luke 9:54)

They were perhaps thinking of Elijah in the Old Testament, and how he had called down fire on those who had showed utter contempt for the prophet of God. (2 Kings 1)

But Jesus rebuked them. The New King James Version and (KJV) adds the words,

You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them. (NKJV vs. 55-56)

Whether Jesus actually said those words are up for debate, but they do capture his spirit.

There would be a time of judgment coming for the Samaritans who rejected him. But the time was not now. He had come to die for their sins, not to destroy them for theirs.

And that’s the spirit we need to have now. Yes, there will be a time of judgment coming for those who reject Jesus and the truth he gives.

But that time is not now. So until that time, we need to be praying and working for people’s salvation. We need to keep reaching out in love with the truth that Jesus has given us.

And by God’s grace, some will be saved.

By no means should we delight in or desire people’s destruction, no matter how vile their sin. Jesus certainly didn’t. He died so that they wouldn’t have to.

What spirit do you have as you deal with the people around you, even those who reject Jesus?

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, judgment, Mercy, rejection

Mark Mark 9 Matthew Matthew 18

Parable of the unforgiving servant: Seasoned with mercy? Or fire?

Post author By Bruce
Post date May 21, 2014
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It’s been interesting putting all the accounts of this one discourse into one place.

But let us go back once more to the start of it: an argument between the disciples about who was the greatest. And probably during the argument, there were a lot of words said and feelings hurt.

So after Jesus talked about what to do when a person offends you, Peter asked a question that was very real to him at the moment. One of the other disciples had hurt him.

It wasn’t the first time, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. The question was, how many times was he obligated to forgive?

Peter suggested seven, which at that time, was considered very magnanimous.

Rabbis at the time threw out the number three in forgiving a repeated offense. (Certainly this number is found nowhere in the Bible).

Jesus answered, “Not 7 times, but 77 times (or 70 times 7).”

One wonders if he was referencing the Old Testament, where a man named Lamech issued a curse in which if anyone hurt him, that he would be avenged 77 times. (Genesis 4:24)

But here, Jesus teaches that we are not to look to curse the person who hurts us, but to forgive.

Jesus, by the way, is not teaching that we should forgive up to 77 times or even 490 times. Rather, we are to always forgive.

He then tells the famous story of a king who forgives the huge debt of one of his servants.

The servant promptly goes out, sees another person that owes him money and demands it back. When the person begs for more time, the servant refuses, and has him thrown in prison.

The king, however, heard about it, and called the servant back in, saying,

You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.

Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you? (Matthew 18:32-33)

He then had him thrown into jail to be tortured until he paid all that he owed. Jesus then said,

This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart. (Matthew 18:35)

Some points. To the servant who had his debt forgiven, the amount the other man owed him was huge. Basically it was about 4 months wages worth of debt.

But compared to the debt he had owed to the king, a debt worth millions and impossible to pay, there was no comparison at all.

Sometimes people hurt us, and to us, it is huge. We are hurt and scarred deeply. But what we need to realize is that our debt of sin that we owe to God is so much greater. Sure, our sins may be “smaller,” but what is small adds up.

If you sin 3 times a day, that’s nearly 1000 sins a year. Multiply that by your age and you start to get an idea of just how big your debt to God is. Yet God forgave you. Shouldn’t you forgive others?

If we don’t, what will happen? The servant in the story cast the man indebted to him away from himself to wallow in his guilt. And the man was guilty.

So often, we do the same. We refuse to forgive, and we cut that person off, hoping to make them wallow in their guilt.

But when the king found out, he cut that person off from his presence and handed him over to be tortured by the jailers.

I believe in the same way, when we refuse to forgive, God will hand us over to Satan to have at us. To make our lives miserable. To make us wallow in our bitterness and anger.

Why? Because God hates us? No. Because he loves us and wants us to repent.

I wonder about the order of all that Jesus said in these parallel passages. And I wonder if perhaps things weren’t said in the exact order that Mark places them. Because it fits perfectly here. Jesus said,

Everyone will be salted with fire. (Mark 9:49)

In other words, if you refuse God’s seasoning of grace and mercy, he will salt you with fire. He’ll make your life miserable until you repent.

Jesus then concludes,

Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? (Mark 9:50a)

Jesus calls us the salt of the earth. To flavor the world around us with his grace and mercy. But if we hold on to bitterness and anger in our lives, we lose that saltiness. So Jesus told his disciples and us,

Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other. (Mark 9:50b).

How about you? Are you salt to those who hurt you?

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, forgiveness, Mercy, salt

Luke Luke 7

Where’s your love?

As I read Luke 7:36-50, I suppose the question I ask myself is, “How much do I really love Jesus?”

We see in this passage two people.

One was a woman who lived a sinful life. What she did, we don’t know, but considering that everyone seemed to know about her, it would seem to have been a public sin, perhaps adultery and/or prostitution. All this is mere speculation, however.

On the other hand, we have a Pharisee. A person who was publicly “righteous.” He said the right things. He did the right things. He was a person, in short, who had it all together.

This man, Simon, invited Jesus to his house for a meal, and while they were there, this sinner comes in and starts weeping.

Her tears fall on Jesus’ feet as he’s reclining at the table, and she starts wiping her tears with her hair, and then pours some expensive perfume on his feet.

Simon’s reaction was immediate. Contempt. Contempt for the woman. And contempt for Jesus. He thought to himself,

If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner. (Luke 7:39)

But Jesus looks at him and tells him a story of two people who owed a great deal of money, one more than the other, but who were forgiven their debts. Then he asked,

Now which of them will love him more? (Luke 7:42)

Simon, perhaps wondering where all this was going and if this was a trick question, replied,

I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven. (Luke 7:43)

Not the most confident sounding of answers, but nevertheless correct.

Jesus then sticks in the knife, saying, “You know Simon, it’s only common courtesy that a host would give a visitor water to wash his feet, to greet him with a kiss, and to pour oil over his head. But you did none of these things.

“This woman, on the other hand, washed my feet with her tears, and hasn’t stopped kissing my feet since she’s been here. Moreover, she poured this expensive perfume on me.”

Simply put, “Where’s the love Simon? This woman loves me. By her actions, she’s shown the depth of her gratitude for the forgiveness of God in her life. Because she realizes just how much she has been forgiven, her love is deep.

“But you, you have so little awareness of just how much you’ve been forgiven, that your love is practically non-existent. In fact, you take me for granted, and even look on me with contempt.”

He then turned to the woman and said,

Your sins are forgiven. (Luke 7:48)

And while those around buzzed that he would say something like that, he told her,

Your faith has saved you; go in peace. (Luke 7:50)

How about you? How deep is your love? Are you like Simon? Are you so unaware of how bad your sin is, are you so unaware of how much you have been forgiven that you take Jesus for granted?

When we fail to understand God’s forgiveness in our lives, it results in two things. A self-righteous attitude that leads to contempt of others who are “lower” than us. And a love for God that is so shallow as to be non-existent.

But when we truly understand God’s forgiveness, it naturally results in a heart of thanksgiving and love towards God, and a heart of grace and mercy towards others.

What kind of heart do you have?

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, forgiveness, grace, love, Mercy

Luke Luke 6 Matthew Matthew 7

Sermon on the Mount: When we judge others

Post author By Bruce
Post date March 10, 2014
No Comments on Sermon on the Mount: When we judge others

It is so easy to judge others for their shortcomings. To rail on them for their character or their deeds. It’s especially easy to do so when they’ve hurt us.

I think it’s very interesting that in the Lukan account, Jesus puts this teaching right after talking about loving your enemies and showing mercy to those who curse you or mistreat you. He says concerning them,

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:36)

Right after that, he talks about judging others, saying,

Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. (Luke 6:37)

In other words, when people hurt you, don’t condemn them. It’s quite frankly, not your place. That’s God’s place. Instead, God says to forgive them.

Forgiveness, in a lot of ways, is more for you than it is for another person.

As I think I’ve mentioned before, when you hold on to unforgiveness in your life, it chains you to your past. It keeps you from moving into the future God desires for you.

So God says to let go of your hurt and forgive. That the other person would actually change because of your forgiveness would be a bonus but is not guaranteed.

(The Pharisees and Sadducees certainly didn’t change despite Jesus’ prayer for their forgiveness.)

And of course, this comes back to the Lord’s prayer where we say, “Forgive us as we forgive those who sin against us.”

Jesus then tells us exactly what will happen if we don’t. If instead we pour out judgment and condemnation on others for what they’ve done to us.

He said,

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.

For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Luke 6:38)

A lot of people take this verse and use it in reference to giving offerings. But this is not what Jesus is talking about at all. The whole context of this passage is judging others and showing mercy.

The picture here is of a farmer pouring out grain into a bag to sell it.

It’s a little hard to picture for us nowadays, but think about trash bags. How do we fill them?

Well, first we put some trash in. When it starts getting full, what do we do? We shake it a bit to let the trash settle to the bottom, and then put in more trash.

When shaking no longer works, we push down the trash so that we can get more of it in. Of course the point comes where we can’t put in any more trash and it starts to overflow.

So what Jesus is saying is that if you pour out judgment and condemnation on others, it will be poured out on you.

It will be pressed down and shaken so that more judgment and condemnation can be poured out in your life to the point of overflow.

If, on the other hand, you pour out mercy and forgiveness on others, mercy and forgiveness will be pressed down, shaken, and overflow in your life.

What do you want poured into your life?

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, forgiveness, judgment, Mercy

Luke Luke 6 Matthew Matthew 5

Sermon on the Mount: But it’s not fair

Post author By Bruce
Post date February 26, 2014
1 Comment on Sermon on the Mount: But it’s not fair

There is something in all of us, I think, that screams for fairness. And if something happens that we feel isn’t fair, we scream against it. But is that the best response?

These few verses go against every instinct we have.

Jesus said,

You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’

But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. (Matthew 5:38-39)

Verse 38 comes from the Mosaic law, and it was basically instructions to judges on how people were to be punished for wrongdoing.

The point here is not revenge, but telling the judges to match the punishment with the crime, and not go beyond. If someone cost another an eye or a tooth, for example, you were not to kill the offender for that action.

It should be pointed out, however, that this was never literally carried out. You didn’t actually take out another person’s eye or tooth if they cost you yours. Instead, there was usually some compensation that was paid.

The idea was justice, or put another way, fairness.

But Jesus here says, “Don’t be so concerned about fairness. Instead, be a light, even to those who abuse you.”

The first example he gives is a very interesting one. He says, “If someone strike you on your right cheek, turn the other cheek.”

Now, I’m a lefty (and proud of it). So it would be no problem for me to nail someone on their right cheek.

But for most people, they are right-handed. And the only way for them to lay any kind of forcible blow on the right cheek of another is to slap them with the back of their hand.

In other words, Jesus isn’t talking about someone bullying you; he’s talking about someone insulting you.

In Jewish culture, it was considered a graver insult to slap someone with the back of your hand, than with the palm of your hand.

So Jesus was saying, “If someone insults you, let them. Don’t feel like you have to insult them back.”

Is it fair to just take this abuse? No. But Jesus tells us, “Don’t worry about fairness. Show grace.”

He then says if someone wants to sue you and take your shirt, give them your cloak as well.

In Israel, everyone had many changes of shirts, but generally only had one cloak.

Most people slept in their cloak to keep them warm at night, and Moses’ law said that if you took that cloak as a pledge for a loan, you should give it back to that person before he goes to bed at night. (Deuteronomy 24:12-13)

But again, Jesus says that if someone sues you to take your shirt, don’t worry about fairness. Give them your cloak as well.

Romans could force any Jew to carry a burden one mile because the Jews were under their rule. The Jews balked at that, as would we if we were forced to do something we don’t want to.

But Jesus said, “If that happens, don’t just go the one mile, go one extra. Do more than you’re forced to.”

And finally, Jesus says to lend freely to those around you, not worrying about whether they will return what they borrowed from you.

You might ask, “Are you saying that I should just let people walk all over me?”

No. But if we are only worried about “fairness,” we’re fighting a losing battle because we live in an unfair world.

Life isn’t always fair. We can’t always control that. What can we control?

Our attitude. How we react when life, when people are unfair. We can scream. We can fight.

Or we can show grace. We can show mercy. And if you think about it, that’s what Jesus did for us.

It wasn’t fair that he went to the cross. He never did anything wrong. But he showed grace and mercy to us, and because of it, we can know forgiveness and eternal life.

If Jesus did that for us, shouldn’t we do that for others?

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, fairness, grace, Mercy

Matthew Matthew 5

Sermon on the Mount: Mercy

Post author By Bruce
Post date February 14, 2014
No Comments on Sermon on the Mount: Mercy

I remember having a dream one night about being at some kind of ministry training seminar or something in China of all places (I’ve never been there), and during it, our teacher told us, “You all know your Bibles well, but are you living it?”

He then started to teach about mercy, and he quoted from the passage where Jesus said, “Go and learn what this means. I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” (Matthew 9:13)

At that point, I woke up kind of wondering what it all meant.

I was on vacation at the time, and that night, I visited my brother’s church. As I was waiting for service to start, I was reading over those passages on mercy.

Then when the message started, my brother (an assistant pastor) read from James, after which he started teaching on, of all things, mercy.

Later that week, I visited my home church and my pastor spoke about…mercy.

Which kind of gave me the idea that God wanted me to learn something. And that year, God started to teach me about mercy.

It’s a lesson I’m still learning. I wish I could say I am now a completely merciful person, but I’m not. It’s an area I still need to grow in.

Jesus says here,

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

What does it mean to be merciful? One thing I learned that year was to stop putting people on a measuring stick. To constantly demand that they meet the standards of my expectations.

God gave me that lesson one day while teaching English to some Japanese students.

I was getting really frustrated with some of them because of their lack of improvement. I was feeling like, “You should know this already! You learned this! Why can’t you remember?”

But God told me, “Bruce stop putting them on the measuring stick you’re setting up. Yes, they probably should be at a higher level than they are. Yes, they should probably know this by now.

But they don’t. Stop criticizing them and accept them where they are. Look at what their needs are and do what you can to meet them.”

It was a lesson I never have forgotten. So many times, people don’t meet our expectations as friends, as coworkers, as children, as husbands, and as wives. As a result we become very critical of them.

But to be merciful means to stop criticizing and to instead start asking ourselves, “What is their need? How can I meet their need?”

That was a key difference between Jesus and the Pharisees, and you see it throughout the gospels.

Another meaning of being merciful is to forgive. People often don’t deserve our forgiveness. Some aren’t even sorry for the hurt they cause us. And because of that, resentment and bitterness start to build up in our hearts.

The word resent, means “to feel again.” And when we hold resentment in our heart, whenever we think of that person that hurt us, we “feel again” the pain they caused us.

Resentment and bitterness chains us to our past. And God doesn’t want that for us. He wants us to move on and find the purposes for which he created us. But we can’t do that if we keep holding on to our past.

More importantly than that, God showed mercy to us, even though we didn’t deserve it. And because of that, he calls us to show mercy to others and forgive them even when they don’t deserve it.

And Jesus tells us time and again that if we desire mercy from God, we need to be merciful to others. We see that in this passage, in the prayer he taught his disciples, and also in the parables he taught.

How about you? How merciful are you?

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, forgiveness, Mercy

Luke Luke 5 Mark Mark 2 Matthew Matthew 9

Mercy-givers

Here we see a big difference between Jesus and the religious leaders of the day. A heart of mercy.

Matthew was so excited to be called by Jesus, that he immediately invited Jesus to a great banquet with him and all his friends.

Of course, being an outcast of society, all of Matthew’s friends were also outcasts; fellow tax collectors and other people looked down upon as “sinners.”

But Jesus didn’t hesitate. He gladly agreed, and soon he was dining with Matthew and all his disreputable friends.

How often do we do that? To reach out to those others, even those the “religious” among us have rejected?

One could make the case that Matthew had repented, but I doubt you could make that same case for all his friends. Yet Jesus reached out, and spent time with them. More than that, he enjoyed being with them.

How did the religious establishment respond? They were appalled.

If I were to translate it into modern society, imagine a famous pastor hanging out with gays and lesbians, eating and drinking with them. How would many “religious folk” respond?

Probably the same as these Pharisees. “How in the world can you hang out with those kinds of people? Those sinners?”

But Jesus replied,

It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. (Mark 2:17)

In other words, “It is just these kinds of people that I need to be hanging out with. These are the people that need me because they are spiritually sick, whether they know it or not. And if I isolate myself from them, they will die in their sin.”

Matthew then gives us one more thing Jesus told those Pharisees that Mark and Luke don’t, probably because he was there, and Jesus’ words so impressed themselves on him. Jesus told them,

But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ (Matthew 9:13)

Jesus was telling them, “You guys are so wrapped up in your laws and traditions. You dot every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t’ when it comes to the law, offering every sacrifice that’s required, and acting so religious.

But that’s not the most important thing God desires.

He desires that you be a mercy-giver. A person that reaches out to those who are lost in their sin. Who spends time with them. Who shows love to them. A person who offers them life and a second chance.

Instead, you isolate yourselves from them, leaving them to die in their sin.

How about you? Do you isolate yourself from sinners, looking down on them because of their sin? Or do you see them as Jesus does? As sick people who need a doctor. Who need a Savior.

Let us be mercy-givers today and every day. For that is what God desires.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, doctor, Mercy, sacrifice, sick

Luke Luke 1

Blessed

When Mary heard that her relative Elizabeth was pregnant, she quickly hurried down to see her.

This is quite understandable considering Mary’s own unusual circumstances. She probably wanted to confirm that this wasn’t just some kind of delusion or dream.

Any such thoughts were quickly dispelled the moment Elizabeth saw Mary. Because Elizabeth’s baby leaped within her, and filled with the Holy Spirit, she said,

Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?…

Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her! (Luke 1:42-45)

There was no human way for Elizabeth to know that Mary was pregnant nor was it possible for her to know that Mary’s baby was to be the Messiah. The only way that she could know was if God told her.

And because of this supernatural knowledge, all remaining doubt Mary may have had dissolved, and she sang,

My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.

From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name. (Luke 1:46-49)

As I look at her words, it reminds me of how God has blessed us as well.

Like Mary, it’s not because we are deserving of anything of God. We are simply his humble servants. It’s not because of the things we have done that we are blessed, but because of the great things God has done.

What has he done for us?

1. He has extended his mercy to us. And not only to us, but to those who came before us, and all who will follow after. (Luke 1:50)

We deserve punishment for all the sins we have committed, but God instead shows us mercy.

Why could he show his mercy to us? Because all his wrath was poured out onto his Son when he died on the cross. And because Jesus took our punishment for us, we can receive God’s mercy instead.

2. He has acted on our behalf. (Luke 1:51)

When Israel was in slavery to Egypt, God humbled Pharaoh and lifted up Moses and the Israelites.

He also cast down nations and rulers that were more powerful than them, and brought them into the land he had promised.

And though his people failed him again and again, nevertheless, he never forgot his promises to Abraham, and has preserved them to this day.

That’s amazing, considering not only how many other races have perished in that time, but also how many times other nations have tried to destroy Israel, even up to the present time.

Just as God has acted on the behalf of Israel, he has acted on our behalf as well. He did so by sending Jesus to die on the cross for us. But even now, he continually acts on our behalf.

When our problems are bigger than we are, he brings us victory. When we are in need, he meets those needs. And when Satan seeks to destroy us, God watches over us and preserves us.

So as Mary did, especially in this Christmas season, let us magnify the Lord. For he has done great things for us. And we truly are blessed.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, blessed, Mary, Mercy, salvation

Psalms

Pouring out our hearts before God

Post author By Bruce
Post date October 6, 2013
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I’ve already written one post concerning Psalm 142, but it was in combination with another psalm, so I decided to give it its own post.

Here we see David in one the caves he spent his time hiding in during his flights from Saul and perhaps from Absalom.

And one can imagine the feeling of being closed in that David had. He refers to it in this psalm as like being in a prison (Psalm 142:7).

So from this cave, he cries out to God. He says in verse 2,

I pour out my complaint before him;
before him I tell my trouble.

As I look at this psalm, one thing I notice is that in his anguish, he did exaggerate his problems at times. He said,

Look to my right and see;
no one is concerned for me.

I have no refuge;
no one cares for my life. (Psalm 142:4)

When you look at his true situation, however, that wasn’t strictly true. He had other soldiers with him, who definitely did care whether he lived or died, and were quite loyal to him.

During his flight from Saul, David’s best friend (and Saul’s son) Jonathan came out to visit him, and to encourage him.

During his flight from Absalom, another of his friends acted as a spy for him, helping lead to Absalom’s demise.

But sometimes, when we’re going through trials, things seem worse than they really are, so we tend to exaggerate our complaints before God.

The nice thing about God, however, is that he understands us. He doesn’t rebuke us when we pour out our hearts to him. Instead, he shows us mercy and compassion.

That’s why David could be so open and honest with God. He knew that God would still accept him.

More than that, he knew that God was still with him, and still had great plans for him. So he sang,

When my spirit grows faint within me,
it is you who know my way. (3)

And again,

You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. (5)

So when we too are struggling as David did, let us not hesitate to pour our hearts before him, knowing that he won’t condemn us for it.

And let us never lose our confidence in his plans for us, remembering that if we have him, we have all we truly need.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, compassion, complaints, God's plans, Mercy, pour out our hearts

Psalms

Deliver me from evil

And so we come down to the homestretch for the book of Psalms. It’s taken about 4 months to get this far, and we have just under two more weeks to complete it.

Anyway, as I look at Psalm 140, I’m reminded of how Jesus taught us to pray. One thing that he told us to pray was,

Deliver us from evil. (Matthew 6:13)

That’s what David prays throughout this psalm, and for that matter, through the next few psalms.

This psalm was probably written either during his flight from King Saul or his son Absalom. And he prays,

Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men;
protect me from men of violence,
who devise evil plans in their hearts
and stir up war every day.

They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s;
the poison of vipers is on their lips.

Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked;
protect me from men of violence who plan to trip my feet.

Proud men have hidden a snare for me;
they have spread out the cords of their net
and have set traps for me along my path. (Psalm 140:1-5)

From his prayer, David seems to be in a pretty bleak situation, with people looking to destroy him. So he prays, “rescue me,” “keep me,” and “protect me.”

Yet in the midst of his trouble, we see David’s confidence in the Lord. He says in verse 6,

O LORD, I say to you, “You are my God.”

and again in verse 7,

O Sovereign LORD, my strong deliverer, who shields my head in the day of battle. (7)

He then prays that God would bring justice on those who would destroy him, and he concludes by praying,

I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy.

Surely the righteous will praise your name and the upright will live before you. (12-13)

Some of us are going through trials right now as people, who for whatever reason, are fighting against us and trying to bring us down.

But though people may hate us, let us be like David laying out our problems before God, and letting him deal out the justice, while we ourselves show mercy to our enemies, as David did with Saul, and desired to do with Absalom.

For some of us, we may not have anyone fighting against us right now. But it would be well for us to remember that we are in a spiritual war. That there are forces out there that are hostile to us and want to bring us down.

Jesus himself knew this. That was why he told his disciples to pray, “Deliver me from evil.”

It should be part of our prayers too. We’re in a broken world, filled with broken people, and the Enemy who first brought sin into the world is still running around loose.

So let us clothe ourselves with prayer. More than that, let us not simply live in defensive mode, but in attack mode.

As one minister put it, all the armor we’ve been given is for the front, not the back.

So let us always be moving forward with God before us. As the old hymn goes,

Onward Christian soldiers!
Marching as to war,

With the cross of Jesus
Going on before.

Christ, the royal Master,
Leads against the foe;

Forward into battle,
See, His banners go!

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, evil, Lord's prayer, Mercy, spiritual war

Psalms

Remembering the goodness and love of God

Post author By Bruce
Post date September 30, 2013
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The first verse pretty much sums up all of Psalm 136.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.
“His love endures forever.” (Psalm 136:1)

This whole psalm is about God’s goodness and love toward his people. But as we look at it, we see just who God is to us.

It begins by talking about how he is the “God of gods” and “Lord of lords,” continuing one of the main themes of Psalm 135. (verses 2-3)

It then talks about him as Creator, the one who created the heavens and earth. How in his wisdom and power, he created all things. (4-9)

God is then worshiped as the Redeemer. The one who delivered the people of Israel from Egypt, by striking down the Egyptians, and bringing the Israelites through the Red Sea. (10-15)

The psalmist then remembers God as Shepherd, leading the people through the desert, providing for their every need. (16)

We next see him as the Mighty Warrior, defeating powerful kings and great cities, as he brought Israel into the promised land, and giving it to them as an inheritance. (17-22)

In verses 23-25, the psalmist proclaims God as the God of grace and mercy. As one who saw the lowly state of his people, and delivered them. Who not only provided for their needs, but provides for the needs of every creature he has created.

And finally, we see God as the Lord of heaven. The one who reigns over all. (26)

I mentioned in an earlier blog the dangers of cynicism. One of the weapons against cynicism in our lives is thanksgiving. Remembering who God is and what he has done for us.

Remembering that he is God and he is in control, even though we can’t see it sometimes.

Remembering how he redeemed us from Satan’s kingdom and eternal death.

Remembering how even now, he is leading us as pilgrims on this earth and will bring us into the kingdom he has prepared for us.

How he is the mighty warrior and will help us in the battles against the spiritual forces that we face every day.

How when we fall, he shows grace and mercy to us, and lifts us back up. That he never leaves us nor forsakes us.

So every day, let us remember these things. Let us focus on these things. And let us sing with hope as the psalmist did,

His love endures forever.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, God's love, Lord, Mercy, provider, redeemer, shepherd, warrior

Psalms

A God of forgiveness and mercy

Post author By Bruce
Post date September 24, 2013
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Psalm 130 is a very short, but sweet psalm which reflects on the forgiveness and mercy of God in a time of distress.

The date of this psalm is not known, but it has the feel of someone writing after the exile to Babylon. You could easily imagine someone like Daniel writing this.

Unlike Daniel’s prayer (Daniel 9) however, this psalm starts with a personal plea for forgiveness. The psalmist cries out,

Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;
O Lord, hear my voice.

Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. (Psalm 130:1-2)

He asks this not on the basis of his own merits, but on God’s character. He notes,

If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins,
O Lord, who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness;
therefore you are feared. (3-4)

I love those two verses. None of us deserve to even stand before God. If God kept a record of all our sins, we’d be dead.

Someone noted that if you sinned just three times a day and lived 30 years, you’d already have a list of over 30,000 sins. I’d hate to think about how many sins would be on my record.

But because of the blood of Jesus, my slate has been washed clean. As the psalmist writes, “With God, there is forgiveness.”

He goes on to say,

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. (5)

What is he waiting for? For the grace of God to come. On what basis does he wait for it? On the promises of God.

And if the psalmist had the promises of God to lean on, how much more as Christians do we? Specifically,

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

And as sure as the morning comes, so will God’s forgiveness to those who repent. (Psalm 130:6).

Having repented of his own sins, he then calls out to his nation to do the same, saying,

O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins. (7-8)

Let us never forget that as people who have known God’s forgiveness, we too are called to share the good news of his mercy to those around us and to call them to repentance.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, forgiveness, Mercy

Psalms

A cry for mercy

Psalm 123 is a very interesting psalm in the imagery it gives. The psalmist writes,

I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven.

As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God…(Psalm 123:1-2)

At first glance, this is a picture of a slave looking to serve his master.

Back in those days, slaves didn’t so much listen to their master’s direction as watch for their every gesture and anticipate their every need.

So as we look at this psalm, it seems to have the idea of us looking intently at God, waiting on him with a heart of service.

Indeed, that is a heart we should have. Remembering that our lives are not about ourselves and serving ourselves. But serving the one who created us.

But the whole of verse 2 says,

As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he shows us his mercy.

In other words, the reason the psalmist was looking so intently at his master was not for the purpose of service. But for mercy. And he cries out,

Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us,
for we have endured much contempt.

We have endured much ridicule from the proud,
much contempt from the arrogant. (3-4)

What the situation was that inspired this psalm is unknown.

It has been speculated that it was written during the exile to Babylon, or even well after, in the times of Antiochus who defiled the temple of God by offering a pig on its altar.

But whatever the situation was, it was bad, and there seemed to be no hope.

And so the psalmist fixed his eyes on the Lord. He knew his people deserved nothing from God because of the evil they had done.

Yet he knew the character of God. That though God may chasten us, he still loves us. And that if will but turn our hearts to him, he is merciful.

This passage reminds me of the parable Jesus told of the man who stood before God, and beat his breast saying, “Have mercy on me, a sinner.”

And Jesus said of him,

I tell you that this man…went home justified before God. (Luke 18:14)

You may feel that you too are being chastened by God because of your sin. You may feel that God has abandoned you.

But turn your eyes to Jesus. Fix your eyes on him, and repent. Ask for his mercy. And he will forgive.

May you know the mercy of God in your life.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, forgiveness, Mercy

Psalms

Bitterness and forgiveness, mercy and justice

Post author By Bruce
Post date August 28, 2013
1 Comment on Bitterness and forgiveness, mercy and justice

Psalm 109 is another of the imprecatory psalms, where we see the psalmist calling for the judgment of God on those who have wronged him.

A lot of people, including myself, get disturbed reading these kinds of psalms, because it seems to go so against the spirit of Jesus and his call for us to forgive our enemies.

I’ve mentioned some of these points before in previous psalms, but they bear repeating.

As king, (or as one who was soon to become king depending on when this psalm was written), David knew the importance of justice. That evil cannot just be allowed to go on unchecked.

And so he was essentially calling for the evil to reap what they sowed.

Whereas they falsely accused him, he asked that they would be put on trial and found guilty.

When it says, “appoint an evil man to oppose him,” it’s hard to say whether he meant that he desired them to know what it’s like to be falsely accused by men, or if he just meant that the justice system is run by people who are no saints themselves.

Whereas they had made children into fatherless beggars, and wives into widows in poverty, he asked the same would come upon them.

That may seem harsh, but it calls to mind the case of Aaron Hernandez, the football player who is accused of murdering a man.

If it is true, he will be incarcerated leaving his daughter fatherless, and his fiancée without a husband. It would be wise to remember that our actions not only affect us, but the ones we love.

And where there is no repentance for sin, there can be no forgiveness from God. Their sin will always remain before him as a record against them.

But whereas we may call for justice, there can be no room for bitterness in our lives. Because bitterness does not destroy the person who hurt you so much as it hurts you.

It’s interesting to note that the apostle Peter used this psalm to refer to Judas, who attacked Jesus without cause, repaid Jesus evil for good, and returned hatred for Jesus’ friendship.

And ultimately, because he never repented, he found God’s justice. His days were few and another took his place of leadership.

But throughout it all, Jesus was never bitter against Judas.

Instead, when he was at the last supper washing Judas’ feet (along with the other disciples’) and offering him bread, indeed, when he was at the garden and Judas came to betray him, we see no signs of bitterness in Jesus.

Rather, we see compassion.

Jesus wasn’t naive. He knew the character of Judas and he didn’t deceive himself concerning Judas. Yet he still showed compassion and love towards Judas.

In doing so, he poured burning coals over Judas’ head, and in his guilt, Judas hung himself. But Jesus remained unstained by bitterness.

And so did David. Only once do we ever see him consumed with bitterness because of another’s actions to the point he was willing to take revenge (the situation with Nabal).

But when Nabal’s wife reminded him of what true justice was, he swiftly let go of his bitterness and showed mercy.

And when he saw God’s justice finally come, he rejoiced, as he does at the end of this psalm.

With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord; in the great throng I will praise him.

For he stands at the right hand of the needy one to save his life from those who condemn him (Psalm 109:30-31).

So let us let go of bitterness in our lives, and instead cling to mercy, forgiveness, and justice.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, bitterness, forgiveness, justice, Mercy

Psalms

The God who never changes

Post author By Bruce
Post date August 24, 2013
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I love how Psalm 102 ends.

In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment.

Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded.

But you remain the same, and your years will never end. (Psalm 102:25-27)

In other words, while even this world will someday perish and will have to be made anew, God never changes.

Why is that so important? Because it means that no matter how much we may fail, his mercy towards us will never fail.

This psalm was probably written during Israel’s time of exile in Babylon. And the psalmist weeps at the suffering he and his people went through.

Their enemies mocked them, their hope seemed to be all but gone, and all they had left was despair because of God’s wrath that had been poured down on them.

But then the psalmist cries out,

But you, Lord, sit enthroned forever; your renown endures through all generations.

You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come. (12-13)

It’s possible that the 70 years of exile prophesied by Jeremiah were coming to an end when this psalm was written.

And so the psalmist says, “Lord, it’s time to show favor to Jerusalem again. The time you appointed has come. Now arise and show us compassion once again.”

He then looked to the time when God himself would have Jerusalem rebuilt, and the resulting wonder of the nations around them. He sang,

The nations will fear the name of the Lord, all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.

For the Lord will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory. (15-16)

As he looks toward that day, he rejoices in the Lord’s mercy singing,

He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea. (17)

And again,

The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death. (19-20)

I love these verses because it shows that though we were spiritually bankrupt, bound to sin and condemned to death, yet God heard our cries and set us free.

And the day will come when all will assemble to worship the One who redeemed us, and we’ll dwell in his presence forever. (22, 28)

Lord I thank you that you are from everlasting. That though people change, you never change. That though we sin, your mercy never fails.

So Lord, until the day comes when you come again, may your mercies toward me be made new every morning. Thank you for your faithfulness. In Jesus’ name amen.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, everlasting God, faithfulness, Mercy

Psalms

The God who is holy

So often, when we think of God and his character, the first word that comes to mind is “love.”

And it is true. God is love. But here we see another aspect of his character. His holiness.

And so while Psalm 97 says, “The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice,” Psalm 99 starts out,

The Lord reigns, let the nations tremble; he sits enthroned between the cherubim, let the earth shake. (Psalm 99:1)

Why do we tremble? Why does the earth shake?

Because God is holy, and we are not. Time and again, the psalmist sings about God’s holiness. He says,

Let them praise your great and awesome name—he is holy. (3)

And again,

Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his footstool; he is holy. (5)

And yet again,

Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy. (9)

It is because of his holiness, that time and again, people fell before God in fear, whether it was Moses (Exodus 3:5-6), Isaiah (Isaiah 6:5), or even John (Revelation 1:17).

They knew they were not worthy to look upon God. They knew that by rights, this holy God should destroy them because of their sin.

Yet time and again, God showed his mercy to these men and to his people.

The psalmist writes about this mercy, singing,

You were to Israel a forgiving God, though you punished their misdeeds. (8)

Though Israel often failed to trust God, though they often defiled themselves with their sin and God punished them for it, still he never abandoned them. He continued to extend his forgiveness to them.

And when people like Moses, Aaron, and Samuel, imperfect vessels though they were, called on God, he answered them.

The good news is that God does all of this for us. Though God is holy, and we are not, though we fail so many times, yet God forgives us and hears us when we call.

So let us remember his holiness and his mercy both, and as the psalmist says, exalt and worship him each day.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, holiness, Mercy

Psalms

Repentance and mercy

It’s not certain when Psalm 85 was written. Charles Spurgeon seems to have thought it was written by David, but I tend to agree with the scholars who say it was written after the Babylonian captivity.

The psalmist writes,

You, Lord, showed favor to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.

You forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins.

You set aside all your wrath and turned from your fierce anger. (Psalm 85:1-3)

This could easily refer to God’s restoration of the people to the promised land after the 70 years of exile had passed. And yet, it seems it was still a time of trouble. The psalmist continues by pleading,

Restore us again, God our Savior, and put away your displeasure toward us.

Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger through all generations?

Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?

Show us your unfailing love, Lord, and grant us your salvation. (4-7)

Perhaps this was in reference to the fact that despite their return to the land, all was not yet well in Jerusalem. The walls were destroyed, and raiders often came in to wreck havoc among the people. (Nehemiah 1:1-3)

And so the psalmist prays for God’s mercy in the situation. But then he says something important. He said,

I will listen to what God the Lord says; he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants — but let them not turn to folly.

Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. (8-9)

So often we pray for mercy, but it would be well to remember that peace only comes to those who repent.

We cannot ask for God’s mercy if we’re willfully turning our backs on him and returning to the sin that destroyed us in the first place.

This is not to say that God will wait until we are completely sinless before he shows us mercy. But he does want our hearts. He wants to know that we are taking steps in his direction, rather than continuing on our old path.

We may fall, but as long as we’re going in the right direction, he will help us up and keep leading us on.

And as we follow him, we’ll find blessing.

As the psalmist wrote,

The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest.

Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps. (12-13)

I like how the New King James puts the last verse.

Righteousness will go before Him, and shall make His footsteps our pathway.

How about you? Are you walking along the pathway of repentance?

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, Mercy, repentance

Psalms

The consequences of sin

These two psalms seemed linked, so I’m putting them together. Both apparently happened after the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon, and are very similar in tone to Lamentations.

Psalm 79 opens with this lament:

O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble.

They have left the dead bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your own people for the animals of the wild.

They have poured out blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead. (Psalm 79:1-3)

Then the psalmist cries out in verse 5,

How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire?

In Psalm 80, the cry is similar,

How much longer, LORD God Almighty, will you be angry with your people’s prayers?

You have given us sorrow to eat, a large cup of tears to drink. (Psalm 80:4-5)

In both psalms, we see the psalmist’s cry for God’s mercy upon the people.

Do not hold against us the sins of past generations; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need.

Help us, God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name’s sake. (Psalm 79:8-9)

And again,

Restore us, Lord God Almighty;
make your face shine on us,
that we may be saved. (Psalm 80:19)

And in both psalms, we see vows made.

Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever;
from generation to generation we will proclaim your praise. (Psalm 79:13)

In Psalm 80, the psalmist prays,

Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself.

Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name. (Psalm 80:17-18)

How much better though, would things have been if the people had been faithful to God all along? To not wait until things were at that state to finally turn to him?

God is a God of mercy. That is true. He will forgive. But there are consequences to our sin here on earth.

So let us not wait until disaster strikes to turn our faces to God, as the Israelites did time and again.

Let us turn our faces to him now and seek him so that we may avoid the pain and hurt that comes because of our sin.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, consequences of sin, Mercy, repentance

Psalms

When justice finally comes

Post author By Bruce
Post date July 30, 2013
No Comments on When justice finally comes

Whenever I look at Psalm 75, I can’t help but sing to myself the old chorus based on this psalm.

We give thanks to thee O Lord, we give thanks.
For thy name is near,
Thy wondrous works men declare.
We give thanks to thee O Lord, we give thanks.

Looking at the whole psalm, however, it’s interesting that I never realized what we were giving thanks for. What wondrous works are we praising?

Ultimately, we’re looking at the time when God brings final judgment on all mankind.

God speaks in this psalm and says,

I choose the appointed time; it is I who judge with equity.

When the earth and all its people quake, it is I who hold its pillars firm.

To the arrogant I say, ‘Boast no more,’ and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horns.

Do not lift your horns against heaven; do not speak so defiantly.’ (Psalm 75:2-5)

And the rest of the psalm talks about how God will lift up the righteous and bring down the wicked. The psalmist closes by praising God, singing,

As for me, I will declare this forever; I will sing praise to the God of Jacob, who says, “I will cut off the horns of all the wicked, but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.” (9-10)

I’ve mentioned before in previous blogs how so often we see the injustice in the world and wonder where God is. Why he doesn’t do anything.

But in this psalm, we see that justice will indeed come.

So let us wait patiently for it and praise God not only that he will bring justice, but that for now he has shown us mercy, waiting so that as many as possible may be saved. (2 Peter 3:9)

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, justice, Mercy, thanksgiving

Psalms

A God of power…and mercy

As I read Psalm 68, two things strike me. First, God’s power.

It starts out with a prayer showing God’s power to cast down the enemy.

May God arise, may his enemies be scattered; may his foes flee before him.

May you blow them away like smoke—as wax melts before the fire, may the wicked perish before God. (Psalm 68:1-2)

Then in talking about how God led the people out of Egypt and into the promised land, it says,

When you, God, went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, the earth shook, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel. (7-8)

The psalmist then bursts out singing,

Summon your power, God; show us your strength, our God, as you have done before. (28)

And again,

Proclaim the power of God, whose majesty is over Israel, whose power is in the heavens.

You, God, are awesome in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. (34-35)

As I look at all this, the power of God makes me stand in awe.

But in the midst of this psalm, we see something else. God’s mercy.

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.

God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing. (5-6)

In talking about leading the people to the promised land, it says,

You gave abundant showers, O God; you refreshed your weary inheritance.

Your people settled in it, and from your bounty, God, you provided for the poor. (9-10)

But perhaps the verse that I like most is the one that says,

Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. (19)

It is awesome to think of the power of God. That he is in control and that he can truly do anything.

But it is even more awesome to think of his mercy and grace towards us.

That he looks down upon us and that he actually cares for us. That he sees our burdens and takes them upon himself.

That he sees our needs and provides. That he sees our loneliness and gives us his presence. That he sees our captivity and sets us free.

Lord, I thank you that you are a God of power. That you can do all things. But I thank you even more that you care for us and love us.

Lord, may I sense more of your presence in my life. May I see more of your power in my life. Show me your strength as you have done before.

But let me also see more of your mercy. And let me share what you’ve given me with those around me. May they see in me your power and your mercy. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, Mercy, power

Psalms

Being merciful

We now come to the end of the first book of psalms (there are five all together).

And David starts it by writing,

Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the LORD delivers him in times of trouble. (Psalm 41:1)

Jesus put it another way.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. (Matthew 5:7)

What is mercy? There are two ideas to the word mercy. One is showing compassion to those who are weak, sick, or poor.

The other idea is withholding punishment from those who deserve it.

We see both of these ideas in this psalm. David says of those who show mercy to those who are weak, God will show mercy to them when they themselves are weak. (1-3)

But David also cries out,

O LORD, have mercy on me;
heal me, for I have sinned against you. (4)

So often, like David, we cry out for mercy. But how often are we ourselves merciful to others?

How often are we like those David describes in verses 5-9. Who speak of those who have hurt us with malice.

Who when we see them suffering, say, “Good. He deserves it. I hope he dies.”

Who whisper gossip about them and exaggerate the wrongs they’ve done against us.

Or who, when we see our friends our suffering, instead of comforting them, accuse them as Job’s friends did. Who say they must have sinned or that they lack true faith in God, otherwise they would be healed.

Even David struggled with the idea of mercy at times. So many times we see him in his psalms rail against his enemies. Ironically, he even says,

But you, O LORD, have mercy on me;
raise me up, that I may repay them. (10)

We don’t have to justify these kinds of statements of David. One thing about the psalms is that they are honest expressions of human emotions.

The key is that though David did indeed express his feelings of anger and frustration, he did not act on them except in justice.

We too may get frustrated or angry with others. But as God showed us mercy, so we are to show mercy to others.

And when we see people who are weak and in need of our help, we are to help them as God helped us when we were powerless to save ourselves. (Romans 5:6-8)

How merciful are you?

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, Mercy

Psalms

Crying out for God

I often wish that we had a little more insight as to the background of the songs that David wrote. Some of the psalms have the background written in the title. This one, unfortunately, does not.

But what strikes me in Psalm 25, is the cry in his soul for God in the midst of the troubles in his life.

He sings,

To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul;
in you I trust, O my God. (Psalm 25:1-2)

In other words, “Lord, I give my everything to you. Everything that I am, I lift to you. And in you, I put my complete trust.”

It’s so easy to say those words. It’s so difficult to live them.

So often I take back from God what I once surrendered. So often, I lack in faith, failing to trust him completely.

Yet despite my failings, it is the cry of my heart, just as it was David’s.

He then prays,

Show me your ways, O LORD,
teach me your paths;
guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long. (4-5)

Here we see the humility of David.

So often we think we know it all. That we don’t need to inquire of God.

But David humbles himself and says, “I don’t know everything. I don’t know the best path to take. Please teach me. Please guide me.”

Why did he seek God’s ways and path? Because of his love for God, and his desire to please him. He said, “You are my God my Savior. My hope is in you.”

Then in the midst of this psalm, he pleads,

Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old.

Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD…

For the sake of your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great. (6-7, 11)

I wonder from these verses if perhaps David wrote this during his flight from Absalom.

Perhaps he saw how his sin with Bathsheba, though forgiven by God, had nevertheless led to the events that led to his exile.

And so once again, he prayed, “Lord, don’t hold my sin against me, though I know it was great. Forgive me. Not because I deserve it, but because of your love and mercy.”

So often we look at our own lives, and see how our sins, though forgiven, have nevertheless brought about the trouble we are in. And we wonder if God has truly forgiven us.

God has. And he will have mercy on us on the day of judgment though we don’t deserve it.

But that doesn’t mean he will necessarily take away the consequences of what we’ve sown in our lives here on earth.

Nevertheless, he will stand with us through the things we’ve brought upon ourselves, as he did with David.

And so David said,

Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.

He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.

All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant. (8-10)

In other words, even though we sin, as long as we seek him, he will never give up on us. He will continue to lead us and teach us.

Of course, the big difference between us and David is that we live not under law, but under grace.

And so though we fail to keep his law, nevertheless his love and faithfulness towards us never changes. As Paul wrote,

If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself. (2 Timothy 2:13)

David then closes by asking for God’s protection, saying,

Guard my life and rescue me; let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.

May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in you. (20-21)

As he started the psalm, so he finishes. By putting his soul in the hands of God, and his hope in God as well.

Through the trials that we go through in his life, may we do the same.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, forgiveness, Mercy, trials, trust

Job

Incomplete and distorted

We finally come to the last of the speeches by Job’s friends.

Essentially, Bildad totally ignores all that Job said, and just says, “God’s great. God’s pure. But you. You’re just a dirty worm. Dirty. Impure. A mere maggot in his sight.”

Job retorts, “Wow! What great wisdom! I’m just stunned by your insight. Of course God is great and awesome. His power is beyond imagining. I’m nothing compared to him. But I still don’t deserve all this suffering, and nothing you say can make me say that I do.”

As I look at Bildad, I see two things.

First, his idea of God was incomplete and distorted. While it is true that God is great and we are nothing compared to him, and while I suppose from our view, we are but maggots and worms compared to him and his holiness, nevertheless, he doesn’t see us that way.

How do I know? Because when God took on flesh, he spent most of his time ministering to those whom others considered “worms” and “maggots.”

He reached out to the prostitute who was about to be stoned and granted her mercy and a second chance.

He extended the hand of fellowship to the cheating tax collector whom everyone despised.

He ate with and gave his time to the other notorious “sinners” in Israel. And because of that, their lives were changed.

But even more than that, he went to the cross for us when he didn’t have to.

He was pure. He was holy. He didn’t deserve to die. But he went to the cross anyway. Why? Because he saw us as worms? Because he saw us as maggots?

No. Because he saw us as pearls of great price, and he was willing to pay any price in order to save us.

I once heard a Christian comedian talk about his favorite song, which to him incapsulated the message of Christianity.

“What song is that?” he asked. “It must be one of the great songs of the church. Something like…” (taking a deep breath, and singing in a very solemn tone…)

I come before thy throne of grace…
And throw myself upon my face.

I know that I am but a worm.
So step on me God and watch me squirm.

(With apologies to Martin Luther’s “A mighty fortress is our God.”)

“No,” he said. “I believe it can be summed up in one phrase. One song.”

Jesus loves me this I know,
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to him belong.
They are weak, but he is strong.

Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells me so.

Granted, it is not the whole of the gospel. But it’s where it starts. Because if God didn’t love us, there would be no gospel at all.

And it’s this love that we need to take to a world that is hurting.

That is what Bildad failed to do for Job (and this is the second thing I note concerning Bildad).

For while Bildad simply telling Job, “God loves you” would have probably done no good, Bildad showing the love and compassion of God would’ve done Job a world of good, and let him know that yes, God is still here. And God still cares.

How about you? Is your view of God incomplete and distorted? Do you see God’s greatness, and see yourself only as an insignificant worm in his sight?

God doesn’t see you that way at all. He loves you.

And he wants you to take that love to the people around you. Not just through your words. But through your actions.

Do you know God’s love in your life? And do people see God’s love through you?

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, compassion, distorted views of God, God's love, Mercy

Zechariah

That we may see

In this passage, we see a glimpse of Israel’s future.

Sometimes people think that God has abandoned Israel, and that God’s promises to them have all been transferred to the church. But that’s not true. As Paul said concerning Israel,

As far as election is concerned, they (the Jews) are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. (Romans 11:28–29)

And so in this passage we see how the blinders will be taken off their eyes that they might see again.

It starts with God’s protection over the Jews in the final days when the nations come against Israel to destroy it. But God says that when that happens, the nations will be the ones hurt and sent reeling. (Zechariah 12:2–3)

That will begin the taking off of the blinders, as all Israel will realize that it is God who is protecting them. The day will come when they will say,

The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the Lord Almighty is their God. (Zechariah 12:5)

And as they continue to see God’s salvation in their lives, they will make another realization. The Messiah that they have been longing for has already come. That two thousand years ago, they crucified him.

And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication.

They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. (Zechariah 12:10)

At that time, Israel will repent and recognize Jesus as the Messiah, and all Israel shall be saved. (Romans 11:26)

As I look at this, I marvel at the grace of God. Though Israel will not be looking for him, or at least will be looking for him in all the wrong directions, nevertheless they will find him.

Not because they deserve it, nor because they are better than anyone else, but because of God’s love and mercy.

It’s the same with us. He pours out his Spirit of grace and mercy on us that we may see and repent. And when we see Jesus as our Messiah, our Savior, then we like the Jews will find salvation.

As the old song goes,

Amazing grace
How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost,
But now I’m found.
Was blind, but now I see.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, grace, Mercy, repentance

Zechariah

False piety

Many people criticize Christians for hypocrisy, warranted or not. But to God, it is a serious issue.

In this passage, we see the returnees who had been exiled to Babylon coming before Zechariah and asking if they should continue fasting in the fifth and seventh months as they and their parents had done for the previous seventy years.

But God replied to Zechariah,

Ask all the people of the land and the priests, “When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted?

And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?” (Zechariah 7:5–6)

In other words, “You did these religious rituals, but it meant nothing because it didn’t come from your heart. It was just a show.”

The word “hypocrite” originally meant a “stage actor.” And that’s what these exiles were. They pretended to be pious, but in reality, they were not.

Then God reminded them of what he had commanded their forefathers before the exile.

This is what the Lord Almighty said:

‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’

But they refused to pay attention. (Zechariah 7:9–11)

And God warned them that it was because they had hardened their hearts that they had been sent into exile in the first place.

‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the Lord Almighty. (Zechariah 7:13)

What do we take from all of this?

God isn’t impressed with our pious religious rituals. He’s more concerned with our daily lives. How do we treat others? Do we show mercy and compassion to others? And are we concerned with true justice?

I was watching a movie today, Amazing Grace, about William Wilberforce’s efforts to get the slave trade banned in Great Britain.

As I think of Wilberforce’s life, I think that’s the kind of thing God wants from all of us. Wilberforce had compassion on those who were being shipped and dying as slaves, and worked hard for its abolishment.

We may not have the same kind of influence on a country-wide scale as Wilberforce did. But we do have influence with every single person that we touch. At home. At work. In our neighborhoods.

Do people see the compassion and mercy of Christ in our lives?

That’s what God wants from us. And that’s what’s ultimately going to change this world: the body of Christ showing his love and compassion to all we come in contact with.

Let us not be hypocrites who merely go to church, read the Bible, and pray.

Let us be people who are filled with God’s compassion and mercy. And let’s make a difference in this world that God has put us in.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, compassion, fasting, hypocrites, Mercy

Daniel 3

When your life has been shattered by sin

Post author By Bruce
Post date March 13, 2013
No Comments on When your life has been shattered by sin

Shortly after Babylon fell to the Persians, Daniel remembered the words of Jeremiah saying that the exile of the Israelites would last seventy years.

With the seventy years up, it caused Daniel to hit his knees.

The interesting thing to me in this passage is that of all the Israelites, Daniel had the least to repent of. And yet he prayed for his people, in no way separating himself from them as he did so.

Instead, he counted himself among the sinners that needed God’s grace.

But in praying this prayer, I think Daniel gives us a model of how we should pray when our lives have been shattered by sin.

First, without excuse or any mincing of words, he plainly and openly confessed the sins of the people, saying,

We have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws.

We have not listened to your servants the prophets who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. (Daniel 9:5–6)

Second, he places the reasons for their exile solely on themselves, not on God, saying,

All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you.

Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. (Daniel 9:11–12)

Third, he confesses that God is the one who is righteous, not the Israelites. He confessed,

For the Lord our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him. (Daniel 9:14)

He then asked for forgiveness, not based on their righteous acts, but upon God’s mercy.

We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! (Daniel 9:18–19)

So often, when our lives are shattered by sin, we try to put the blame on anyone but ourselves.

Sometimes, we even try to blame God for our problems. We try to make God out to be unfair for letting our lives fall apart.

And even when we’re forced to admit we were wrong, we try to justify ourselves.

But as long as we hold those attitudes, we will never know God’s forgiveness, and our lives will remain shattered. All we will be left with is the bitterness of a broken life.

If we truly desire forgiveness and healing in our lives, we need to pray as Daniel did. No excuses. No mincing of words.

Just simply saying to God, “I’ve sinned. I was wrong.”

We need to admit that the reason that our lives are a mess is not because God is being unfair to us but is rather a result of our own sin.

We need to confess that God is righteous in all his judgments, and that we were the ones who were wrong.

And then, based on God’s mercy and his mercy alone, we should ask for forgiveness.

None of us deserve God’s forgiveness. None of us can earn his mercy. All we can do is humbly ask.

When we do so, God will reach down, as he did with the Israelites, forgive our sins, and make us whole.

How about you? Is your life shattered by sin? Have you been putting the blame on God? Have you been putting the blame on others?

It’s time to own up. It’s time to truly confess. For only in doing so can we find true forgiveness and healing.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, Mercy, no excuses, repentence

Ezekiel

A heart of malice

We now shift the scene back to Babylon. The prophecies here, for the most part, happened during the time of Jerusalem’s siege and fall.

In these passages, Ezekiel prophesies against some of the enemies around Judah: the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, Philistines, Tyrians, and the Sidonites.

These people basically had one thing in common. They had a lot of malice in their hearts toward the people of Judah.

And when Judah fell under attack by the Babylonians, these people rejoiced. In some cases, they even took advantage of the situation to enhance their prosperity or to exact revenge against Judah.

The result? God passed judgment on each of these nations, proclaiming each of their downfalls.

What can we learn from this?

What kind of heart do we have for the people around us? Do we have hearts of malice toward people?

Do we, for example, have hearts of unforgiveness?

Someone hurts us, and we refuse to forgive. And when something bad happens to them, we rejoice in it, saying, “They got what they deserved!”

Or do we see trouble in others’ lives and rather than thinking about how to help them, we think about how to take advantage of the situation?

These are attitudes that God despises. And as God’s people, there should be no room in our hearts for them.

I think of David’s life and the heart he had. When he heard that the man who had tried to kill him for years, King Saul, had died, he didn’t rejoice. He didn’t say, “Ha! You got what you deserved!”

Instead he wept for him, writing a song of lament for Saul and his son Jonathan.

When Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, was assassinated by his own men, David didn’t think, “Hey, this is my chance to unite the kingdom under me.”

Instead, his first thought was to exact justice on the assassins.

David wasn’t a perfect man by any means. But one reason God called him a man after his own heart was that he rejected a heart of malice and embraced a heart of mercy and compassion.

How about you? Is your heart full of compassion and mercy? Or is it filled with malice? Jesus said this:

You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’

But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:43–45)

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, compassion, malice, Mercy

Ezekiel

God of judgment and mercy

Post author By Bruce
Post date February 5, 2013
No Comments on God of judgment and mercy

I’ve mentioned this before, but going through the prophets can be somewhat wearying at times, the reason being that much of their messages seem to be the same—namely, messages of judgment.

The same can be said here. The elders of Israel came “to inquire of the Lord,” but probably more as people seeking the advice of a fortune teller than as people who were truly seeking God.

And so God basically tells Ezekiel, “I have nothing to say to them. But if you want, then recount to them their history, and all the evil they have committed. Let them know exactly why I have nothing to say to them.”

But in the midst of all of this is something that we should always remember when going through these passages of judgment: God is also a God of mercy.

As he recounts Israel’s history, he shows this again and again, telling Ezekiel how despite Israel’s rebellion, he had refused to destroy them completely.

He showed them mercy, not because of what they did, but rather because of who he was.

Time and again, he says, “It was for my own name’s sake that I spared them.

“I continued to work with my people, that the nations around them might see that I am a God who is faithful to his promises, even when my people are not faithful to theirs.

“That I am a God who is merciful and forgiving despite their actions.”

I’m so glad that God doesn’t treat me as I deserve. Because I deserve God’s judgment in my life for the things that I do.

But as God showed mercy to Israel, he shows mercy to me. He took me from the kingdom of darkness into his marvelous light. And for that I’m grateful.

Lord, I thank you that you don’t treat me as I deserve. But that you forgive me. Not only that, you’re continuing to shape me into your image.

Lord, help me to loathe the evil in my life. Help me to take on your character each day, that I may become more like you.

And as you’ve extended your mercy to me, let me extend your mercy to those around me. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, judgment, Mercy

Ezekiel

A warped sense of justice

“God’s not fair.”

It is a little ironic that people sometimes say this. Why? Basically because God’s way of thinking is perfect and holy, and ours has been corrupted by sin.

Yet we dare, with our corrupted judgment, to disagree with God’s decisions of judgment and mercy, claiming that he isn’t fair.

I read about a group of Christians who were discussing Jeffrey Dahmer, a man who had committed some pretty hideous murders in the ’90s. While in prison, however, he became a Christian.

Upon his death (he was murdered by another prisoner), the group was divided on how they saw him.

Some had seen an interview in which Dahmer had talked about his conversion, and believed he had truly repented.

The ones who had not only saw him as a monster, and dismissed the idea that he had truly repented.

“Crimes that bad can never be forgiven. He couldn’t be sincere,” one person said.

Many people would agree with the latter group. Yet these same people bitterly complain about being forced to suffer the consequences of their own sin.

“God! Why are you punishing me?” they cry, all the while ignoring the fact that it was their own actions that brought the consequences upon their heads.

That’s what God was saying to the Israelites here in this passage. He said,

Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’

Hear, O house of Israel: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?

If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin, he will die for it; because of the sin he has committed he will die.

But if a wicked man turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will save his life.

Because he considers all the offenses he has committed and turns away from them, he will surely live; he will not die.

Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’

Are my ways unjust, O house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust? (Ezekiel 18:25–29)

Here were the people of Israel, criticizing God for being unjust because of all they were suffering. Yet they totally ignored that it was their own sin that caused God’s judgment to come.

How about you? Do you get angry when God allows judgment to come into your life? Or do you get angry when God shows mercy in others’ lives?

Remember that God is totally just. He always does what is right, and if you disagree with him, it is not he who is wrong, but your own warped sense of justice that is.

So let us be humble before God, showing mercy to those who repent of their sins and repenting of our own sins when God’s discipline comes into our lives.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, judgment, justice, Mercy

Ezekiel

The tender one

So many times we get the image of God, especially the “God of the Old Testament,” as a hard-liner. Someone who is ready to blast us for every sin that we commit.

But here, God talks of a “tender one” to come. He said,

This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘I myself will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it; I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a high and lofty mountain.

On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar.

Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches.

All the trees of the field will know that I the Lord bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall.

I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish.

I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.’ (Ezekiel 17:22–24)

This passage, I think, has a dual fulfillment.

The first fulfillment was through Zerubbabel, the grandson of Jehoiachin.

Zerubbabel (the tender sprig) came along with Joshua the high priest to lead the first of the exiles back to Jerusalem, and became governor of the people.

There by the grace of God, Israel, the dry tree, started its restoration as a nation, while Babylon, the green tree, had been brought low by the Medes and Persians.

But its second fulfillment comes through Christ. It reminds me of the passage in Isaiah 53, where it says,

[Jesus] grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. (Isaiah 53:2)

Jesus may have come from humble origins, being born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth, but after being put on a cross,

God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9–11)

And now, we can find rest and shelter under his wings of grace.

Where our lives are dry and withered, he can bring life back to us, making us flourish once again.

You may think that God is angry with you and has given up on you because you’ve messed up your life.

But remember that he sent the Tender One that we may know his grace and love. And remember that through his cross, the life that we have wrecked can be restored.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, grace, Mercy, tender one

Jeremiah Obadiah

Reasons for judgment

I know. At first glance, it seems a bit strange to combine Jeremiah and Obadiah. But there is some method to my madness.

If you look at Obadiah, it actually has a lot in common with Jeremiah 49:7–22.

A lot of the imagery and wording is so similar, you have to believe that Obadiah had some access to Jeremiah or vice versa.

It is not unusual for biblical authors to quote other biblical authors. And it’s possible that God told Obadiah, “Remember what Jeremiah said here. Repeat what he said.” Or vice versa.

Or it’s possible that God independently gave each of them the same words to speak. That too is not entirely unusual.

At any rate, God here is passing judgment on the nations surrounding Judah. At a guess, it would seem that these prophecies happened at the same time as the events of Jeremiah 27–29.

In those passages, as you recall, Jeremiah was warning many of these same nations to submit to Nebuchadnezzar.

Also in the prophecy against Elam, Jeremiah timestamps it as being early in the reign of Zedekiah.

Why did God pass judgment on these nations? He doesn’t always give reasons, but there are several repeated themes.

First, the worship of false gods.

For Moab, it was the god Chemosh. For Ammon, it was the god Molech. These are the gods mentioned in these passages, but each nation had their own gods that they worshiped, turning their backs on the one true God.

Second, pride. God said of Moab,

“Since you trust in your deeds and riches, you too will be taken captive…

We have heard of Moab’s pride—her overweening pride and conceit, her pride and arrogance and the haughtiness of her heart.

I know her insolence but it is futile,” declares the Lord, “and her boasts accomplish nothing.” (Jeremiah 48:7, 29–30)

Of Ammon, he said,

“Why do you boast of your valleys, so fruitful? O unfaithful daughter, you trust in your riches and say, ‘Who will attack me?’” (Jeremiah 49:4)

To Edom, he said,

“The terror you inspire and the pride of your heart have deceived you… I will bring you down.” (Jeremiah 49:16)

And of Kedar and Hazor, he said,

“Arise and attack a nation at ease, which lives in confidence,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 49:31)

Finally, you see a lack of mercy and compassion on the part of these nations.

Moab ridiculed Israel when it fell (Jeremiah 48:27).

When Assyria had taken the northern kingdom of Israel captive, Ammon callously took over the land that had been left abandoned (Jeremiah 49:1).

As for Edom, despite the fact that they were descendants of Esau and the Israelites were descendants of his brother Jacob, Edom “stood aloof” when Israel was attacked and rejoiced over its destruction (Obadiah 12–13).

Idolatry. Pride. A lack of mercy and compassion. Do these things reign in your life?

You may not worship Buddha or other “gods,” but how about money? How about possessions? Whatever is most important in your life is your god.

What about pride? Who do you put your trust in? Yourself? Or God?

C.S. Lewis called pride “the great sin.” Because it is pride more than any other sin that separates us from God.

It is pride that causes us to think that we don’t need him. It is pride that causes us to walk away from him.

A lack of mercy and compassion.

This is what Jesus criticized the Pharisees and teachers of the law for. “I desire mercy, not sacrifice,” he said.

But though they claimed to love God, they certainly didn’t care about people.

How about you? Do you actually care about the people around you? Or do you not give a rip, thinking only of yourself?

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, compassion, idolatry, Mercy, pride

Micah

Empty religion

“I call to the stand the people of Israel.”

That’s basically the opening of Micah 6, where God calls the Israelites to account in a court-like atmosphere.

He cross-examines them, saying,

My people what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me! (Micah 6:3)

He then testifies of all he’d done for Israel, delivering them from Egypt and from those who tried to harm them, and leading them through the desert to the promised land.

At which point, the people got exasperated with all the questioning.

They asked God, “Well what do you want? We’ll do anything just to get you to shut up and leave us alone!

Do you want offerings of calves and rams? Shall I offer my own children as a sacrifice? What do you want anyway?”

That’s the kind of attitude that many people take when it comes to God. They think that all he wants is religious ritual. Going to church. Sacrificing their money by giving tithes. Fasting.

Some people at Lent will give up things that they usually do, thinking that it will earn them points with God, but then live their own way the rest of the year.

And that’s how the Israelites were. They just wanted to get their sacrifices out of the way, hopefully appease God through them, and then live their own way the rest of the time.

But Micah told them,

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)

God is not interested in empty religion. What is empty religion? It’s doing religious acts devoid of a love for God. It’s doing religious rituals one day, but doing your own thing the rest of the time.

For the Israelites, they were cheating people in business and acting violently against each other (Micah 6:10–12).

While they were willing to act religiously to get God off their backs, they refused to do what God really required. To do what was right, to show mercy to the people around them, and to walk humbly with God daily, not just once a week.

How about you? What do you think pleases God? It’s not your money. It’s not going to church. It’s not doing religious rituals.

Jesus summed it up this way, when asked what the greatest commandment was. It wasn’t sacrifices. It wasn’t tithing. It wasn’t any religious rituals. Instead he said,

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:30–31)

Do you want to please God?

It’s not found in empty religious acts.

It’s found in loving God, and in loving others.

That’s what God truly desires.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, Empty religion, Loving God, Loving people, Mercy

Isaiah

Compassion for our brothers

Post author By Bruce
Post date September 10, 2012
No Comments on Compassion for our brothers

Hatred can be worst when it’s between brothers or close relatives. Probably because our expectations are much higher for people who are supposed to be our kin.

In the same way, the Moabites should have had a much better relationship with the Israelites, but didn’t. They were related through Abraham and Lot.

Abraham, of course, was the father of the Jewish nation, while Lot was the father of the Moabites.

But the relationship between these two nations were rarely good. And now at this point in time, God was bringing judgment upon Moab.

But Isaiah’s response to it is very different from anything else you see in the rest of the judgments against the nations (aside from Israel and Judah, that is).

He said,

My heart cries out over Moab…My heart laments for Moab like a harp, my inmost being for Kir Hareseth. (Isaiah 15:5; 16:11)

Why did Isaiah weep for his enemies? Probably because they were supposed to be brothers. And though Moab had much bad blood with Israel and Judah, still, Isaiah cared deeply for them.

He begged them to go to Judah and take shelter there while begging Judah to take them in.

He then gave the Moabites words of comfort. He told them that their oppressors (the Assyrians) would fall, and that if they would just come to Judah, one from the house of David would grant them relief and justice. (Isaiah 16:1-4)

He says in verse 5 of chapter 16,

In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it — one from the house of David — one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of justice. (Isaiah 16:5)

In other words, their only hope would come from the Messiah who was to come and reign in Jerusalem.

Unfortunately, the Moabites would not heed Isaiah’s pleas, and they were reduced to a very small remnant as a result.

As I read this, it reminds me of the compassion we need even for those who hate us. Sometimes we feel betrayed by those who are closest to us.

But instead of rejoicing in their troubles, we should be praying for them. Like Isaiah, we should be pleading that they turn to Christ and to let them know that their only hope of salvation comes through him.

How about you? When you see people who hate you suffering, do you rejoice? Or do you weep?

Do you say, “Good riddance?” Or do you pray for their restoration?

Jesus taught us,

Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44)

Jesus not only taught it, he lived it, praying for those who hated him, even as he was dying on the cross.

And because he did, salvation has come to all those who will believe in him.

May we extend the same mercy we have received even to those who hurt us.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, compassion, Mercy, would-be brothers

Amos

When there’s no turning back

Post author By Bruce
Post date August 13, 2012
No Comments on When there’s no turning back

I suppose the tough thing about going through these prophets is that for many of them, especially during this time in the books of Kings and Chronicles, they seem to be beating the same drum—namely that of judgment.

I sometimes wonder if I can say much more on the topic without people getting bored.

But just a few things here. There was a very interesting dialogue in chapter 7 between Amos and the Lord, very reminiscent of the dialogue between God and Abraham in Genesis 18.

In both cases, God is preparing to judge the people, and in each case, he shows a willingness to relent when someone intercedes.

But in both cases, there comes a point when God says, “No more. There is no turning back for these people anymore. Judgment must come.”

Twice Amos, through his intercession, causes the Lord to relent from his judgment on the people of Israel. But the third time, God said,

Look, I am setting a plumb line (a kind of tool used to make sure a wall was built straight, similar to a modern-day level) among my people Israel.

I will spare them no longer. (Amos 7:8)

In other words, God had measured this wall that was Israel, and found it so crooked that he had no choice but to tear it down.

He called them in chapter 8 a basket of ripe fruit—ripe, that is, for judgment. (Amos 8:1–2)

How did the people get so crooked?

We’ve talked about this before. They had stopped really listening to the Lord.

As long as the prophets God sent told them pleasant things, they were willing to listen. But as soon as the prophets warned about God’s judgment, the people told them to shut up.

You see this in the last part of chapter 7 where a “priest” from Israel accused Amos of treason for predicting King Jeroboam’s fall, and told him,

“Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there.

Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.” (Amos 7:12–13)

When we take away the “level” of God’s word in our lives, we can no longer tell what is crooked or not, what is evil or not.

We see that very clearly in the world today. People call what is crooked, straight; what is evil, good.

And when we willfully ignore the word of God, there comes a point where God will no longer speak. In chapter 8, he told the people,

“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.

Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.” (Amos 8:11–12)

God, in fact, would be silent for 400 years between the time of Malachi until John the Baptist came.

Is it any wonder that the people flocked to hear John when he came?

But as was usually the case with the prophets, God finishes with some words of hope in chapter nine, once again illustrating his faithfulness.

He promised that though he would punish Israel, he would also restore it. That though it would lie in ruins, it would be rebuilt.

He would do so, not because of their righteousness, or anything that they did, but rather out of his mercy and love for them.

As Paul wrote,

He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. (Titus 3:5)

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, Intercession, judgment, Mercy

Jonah

The God who delights in mercy

Post author By Bruce
Post date July 30, 2012
No Comments on The God who delights in mercy

One wonders at the attitude of Jonah as he preached to the Ninevites.

Sometimes we see people holding up signs at gay rallies or parades and shouting, “You’re going to hell!”

I wonder if that was the kind of attitude Jonah had as he preached in Nineveh.

As he was preaching, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned,” was he thinking to himself, “Go to hell you…?”

Some people have noted that there is no place in the Bible where it specifically says Jonah told the Ninevites to repent. They suggest that he only told them that judgment was coming.

I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it would fit in with his attitude in chapter 4.

Another interesting thing to note is that Jonah’s father’s name was “Amittai,” which means “truth” in Hebrew.

Jonah may have been a son of truth, but he most certainly wasn’t a son of mercy in this story.

And much to Jonah’s chagrin, the Ninevites repented. Even so, it seems that he held out hope that God would judge them anyway.

So he sat outside the city, just waiting for God to blast the people out of existence like he did with Sodom and Gomorrah.

As each hour passed, he grew more and more bitter when it became clear that God would show mercy because of their repentance.

And so God gave him a little object lesson.

God provided a vine that gave him shade, but then sent a worm to eat at it, causing it to wither away. And in the midst of the scorching heat, Jonah got even more bitter, screaming out, “Just kill me already!”

And God said, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?”

Jonah answered, “Yes, I’m angry enough to die.”

God then said something that really made Jonah think.

He said, “You’re concerned about this vine, this plant, even though you didn’t plant it, tend to it, or do anything to make it grow. Yet I created the Ninevites. They are my precious creation, and I love them.

“There are 120,000 people in there who didn’t know anything about me or my will, and they were about to die for their evil.

“How can you not understand that I would care for them when you care for this mere plant that you did nothing to create.”

Assuming that Jonah was the one that wrote this book, it’s safe to assume that he got the message.

But how about us? Are we like Jonah, delighting in the fact that people are going to hell?

Or are we like God, weeping for them and doing everything we can to save them?

Are we angry when people escape God’s judgment because they repent?

Or are we rejoicing over it?

So many times, people are like Jonah and they delight only in the truth. They love shouting out, “You’re going to hell.” And they take great joy in imagining it happening.

But that’s not the way God is. He delights in mercy.

We should delight in it as well.

Do you?

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, Jonah, Mercy

Genesis

Mirroring the heart of God

Post author By Bruce
Post date June 22, 2011
No Comments on Mirroring the heart of God

It’s scenes like this one that show why God would choose someone like Abraham in spite of all his faults and failures.

In this interaction, you see in Abraham’s words and pleas what I believe was in the heart of God from the first: a desire to show mercy.

God tells Abraham that the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah was so great and their deeds so evil that he had come and see it for himself.

And Abraham knew what that would mean: judgment. But Abraham also knew that his nephew Lot and his family were living in Sodom, and so he started pleading for mercy.

It’s a very poignant scene. The two men (angels actually) leave for Sodom and the Lord and Abraham are left standing there, looking down on the city.

Perhaps they’re standing in silence knowing the judgment that is to come. But then Abraham slowly inches his way towards the Lord, and when he’s standing right next to him, he asks softly:

“Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?

Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike.

Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:23–25)

The Lord replies, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

Perhaps there is silence for a minute or two. Then Abraham asks, “What if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?”

The Lord immediately answers, “If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”

On and on, the conversation goes, as Abraham brings the number down to 40, 30, 20, and finally 10. One wonders how far God would have gone. Down to one? Perhaps God would have spared the city for even one.

Why did God let the conversation go as long as it did? Why do I think he would’ve even gone down to the number one?

Because while God must eventually bring justice, he also longs to show mercy as well. And I think it pleases him when his people mirror his heart and desire to show mercy as well.

So when his people mirror his heart and pray for his mercy on the lost, he is very quick to say yes.

How about us? Do we have that same heart of compassion and mercy for the lost?

Do we desire more than anything that they would know God’s mercy, and in so doing, find a relationship with the living God?

Or do we not give a rip?

How often do you pray for the people around you who don’t know Christ?

Do you pray for God’s mercy in their lives?

Or are you more likely to pray for his judgment?

Or do you not pray at all?

God’s desire is to show mercy. God’s desire for us is that we mirror his heart of mercy.

What is in your heart today, as you consider the lost people around you?

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, Gomorrah, Intercession, Mercy, Sodom

Genesis

A covenant of mercy

Jan van 't Hoff/Gospelimages.com

Steak for dinner! Well, maybe not. It’s a bit pricey in Japan.

Anyway, it occurs to me that we probably won’t have steaks in heaven. And any barbecues we may have will probably be vegetarian.

At least, that’s what life was like before the flood. It was only after that, that eating meat was permitted by God.

Hmm…think we can have any meat substitutes in heaven? I’m sure some people won’t miss it too much, but I think even the Japanese would miss their sushi and sashimi.

Genesis 9 is a time of firsts. The first steak, for one thing. The first barbecue. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know how people lived without these things.

But it was also the first time fear entered the relationships between humans and animals, and I would guess also between animals and animals. The lion would no longer live with the lamb, and will not until Jesus comes back.

Finally, it also saw the first covenant made between God and man. And it was a one-sided covenant. It was a very rare thing when God made a two-way covenant in the Bible where both sides had to do something to fulfill it.

I think God knew that if he made covenants two-sided, they would quickly be broken, because with us being human, we are weak and sinful, and can’t keep our side of the deal. That’s what happened in his two-sided covenant with Israel.

But the first covenant was one-sided. The humans didn’t have to do anything at all. It was all on God. And he said, “Never again, will I ever send a flood to wipe out all of mankind again.”

It’s probably a good thing this covenant wasn’t two-sided, and dependent on how good humans behaved, because it didn’t take very long before mankind became corrupted again.

And God knew that. He knew we were weak. He knew things would get really bad in a very short period of time. Maybe it was because he knew how corrupt we would become that he made this covenant.

As I’ve mentioned before, God does not take any pleasure in the death of the wicked. He weeps over it.

I think you could say that every drop of rain that destroyed the earth came from the eyes of God. And maybe he didn’t have the heart to do it again no matter how bad things got.

The awesome thing is that the covenant of mercy that God set in place thousands of years ago still holds. And things have gotten pretty bad in this world. Yet the rainbow is a continuing sign of his mercy.

And yet as great as that covenant of mercy is, there is another covenant of mercy that’s even greater.

The covenant God first made with mankind when the flood ended is limited in that it only prevents judgment by water.

But on the final day of judgment, judgment will come to each man and woman. And this time, it won’t be a judgment by water, but a judgment by fire. (2 Peter 3:6–7)

The covenant of mercy God made to Noah will not apply on that day.

But there is another covenant of mercy that God has made that will see us through the judgment of fire. It’s a covenant where through the blood of Jesus, our sins may be forgiven if we’ll just put our trust in him and his work on the cross.

Paul says,

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. (Titus 3:4–5)

Noah and his family were spared from the flood by the mercy of God. We’ve been spared from being wiped out from this earth by that same mercy.

And on the day of judgment, when we see God face to face, those who have put their trust in Jesus will find mercy on that day.

May you know the mercy of God in your life.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, covenant, Mercy, rainbow