At Oakleaf yesterday we learned about God’s gift of Mercy and how even though we don’t deserve it he sent his Son to save us from our sins. Michael defined the following terms to help us understand this in context:
Mercy Savers: These are people who only show mercy in the extreme case. They feel that if you “do the crime, you do the time:
Mercy Wholesalers: These people almost never hold people accountable and live a life of perpetual second chances.
Michael made the point that the Bible seems somewhat conflicted in this area. If you look at the actions of God and the life of Jesus there are examples of both Mercy and Justice.
During the message he challenged us to be Mercy Exporters and model to others the kindness that we all want in our lives. The key to this whole concept is that we all move into and out of positions of authority over people. We have the opportunity to show God’s mercy to people even when they make a mistake or possibly when we feel like that they don’t deserve it. We can never earn nor do we deserve the gift that Christ became for us through his birth and eventual death on the cross. We may be most like Christ when we show forgiveness and mercy to those around us!
Michael was right on point when he said that the biggest act of mercy that we can show another person is to invite them to church and give them the chance to experience God’s change for their life.
In honor of that I would like to invite any who reads this blog (all two of you!) to our Christmas Rockin Eve Eve service. Oakleaf gave the offering back (re-gifted) to us during church yesterday! Read about it in Michael’s blog.
Here are some of the scriptures we read:
Filed under: Bartow County, Christianity
