mighty mercy

Perhaps you’re like me and you’ve heard grace and mercy differentiated this way:
Grace is getting what you don’t deserve
Mercy is not getting what you do deserve

i appreciate and use those definitions regularly – the two go hand and hand. In addition to the above, especially in relation to Micah 6:8 and our ministry strategy, i’ve adopted another set of definitions:
Grace puts us in right relationship together
Mercy keeps us there

When we “love mercy,” we live in a relational commitment to one another. We love freely, knowing that our love, our sacrifice, our gifts, our time, etc. may not be returned like for like – in fact, it may be returned with rejection, apathy, a sense of it was expected, or any number of other negative responses.

In that sense, from a natural perspective, the love was not “deserved”. But God sets a supernatural example of love; Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” -- that’s grace putting us in right relationship with him. The same thing happens in the Church, the Body of Christ when we receive a new believer into the fellowship – we’re set into a family relationship together regardless of past differences. Galatians 3:26-28, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

But God’s Word goes on to further define and reveal the amazing characteristics of His supernatural love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, “4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.”

That familiar passage of Scripture is out of the context of maintaining relationships in the Body of Christ, as defined by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12. i believe that when we love in the ways outlined in 1 Corinthians 13, we’re loving with mercy. Such merciful love is not only what keeps us in relationships together, but also is active in keeping us in right relationship with God. The prophet Jeremiah wrote in Lamentations 3:22-23, “Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” i think this is the mercy of God greeting us in loving-kindness, compassion, and faithfulness every morning.

As believers, we’re called to reflect the love of God to a world in need of Him. We need to greet each other in grace, and continue to greet each other through mercy. That doesn’t mean that we overlook or condone the sin of others, but that we walk with them in the truth of God’s Word and hold one another accountable to it--because we love each other. More on this, another time...