Grace and Mercy

Grace and Mercy are the crown jewels of the Kingdom of God. And yet they are not encrusted in a opulent crown resting on the Sovereign’s head, instead they are like business cards freely distributed on earth – as in heaven. Sounds naïve and idealistic? Not at all. When Jesus walked this earth he was generous with grace and mercy, which left people utterly gob-smacked! Because, until the revelation of such love revealed in God’s Son, judgement, condemnation, pointed fingers, and turned backs were the hallmarks of religious teaching and rule making.

Two thousand years later not much has changed in the complexity of how to flourish in an ever-changing world where people live around us with polar opposite worldviews, values, and lifestyles. Freedom and respect under God grants everyone the opportunity and space to live as they choose without doing others harm. That does not imply that God approves. But his grace and mercy means that he not only gives us the freedom to choose, but also the grace and mercy to make new choices, change our minds, begin again, even repent, be forgiven, and walk in the opposite direction.

Grace and mercy is only available for people who have made regrettable choices, who have been blind or deaf to truth, who have done things they wish they had never done. Grace and mercy is about not being defined by sin and failure, rebellion and self-interest. They are gifts that originate from the heart of a passionately loving God who knows what each of us could be, are created to become, and yet are falling short of our inheritance and potential in Him. Many are blind and deaf and have no clue, yet. Grace and mercy, by not condoning or condemning, offer the opportunity for new thoughts, deeper reflection, second thoughts, unconditional love, and different directions. Nothing is deserved, that is the miracle of grace and mercy. There is no retribution, no strings, merely an invitation to take or leave.

We live in a world with ;political systems where we keep trying to coral everyone into our mindset, worldview, mold, or even straightjacket. It’s easier to want everyone to agree with me, live like me, and have the same values as I do. Christians are guilty of wanting to control or legislate others to conform to God’s rules, too often in unhealthy step with politicians. That is not consistent with the character of Jesus, or his message. Those who live by the sword will die by the sword, those who live by rules will wither and perish by the same. We need to be fighting for freedom for all, which does not imply agreement with all, or approval of everything. Freedom leaves room for differences, disagreement, and the opportunity to discuss, debate, and experience revelation and change.

Grace and mercy is like the sun and rain, as Jesus taught, that falls on the wheat and the weeds (tares), providing opportunity for growth. Eventually the harvest will determine the final outcome. Paul writes about his struggle with a thorn in the flesh. He begged God to take it from him. He heard God’s affirmation that his grace would be sufficient. In other words he was accepted without being perfect. Paul already knew so much about grace and mercy as he had been forgiven of persecution, murder, and blind religious oppression and cruelty. We judge and discard people at the slightest suggestion of imperfection, God forgives, heals, redeems, and restores. That’s grace and mercy at its most fruitful!

The well known story of Jesus resting at a well in the midday heat when he asked a woman for a drink of water. She had arrived there alone because it was the only time she could draw water without the accusations and judgement of the villagers. Jesus engaged her in conversation, a radical crossing of established norms in that culture where men didn’t talk to women in public. But that wasn’t nearly radical enough. As the conversation continued Jesus told the woman that he knew who she was. “You have six husbands and the one you are living with is not your husband.” Her expectation was that he would treat her with contempt, judge her, or call others to stone her to death for breaking God’s rules multiple times.

Grace and mercy always offer hope, acceptance, and new possibilities. The woman was astonished as Jesus told her the secrets of her life and lifted the shame she had hidden them under. She ran and called the other villagers to come and meet a man who had told her all about her life. In the telling and the listening, the kind eyes and gentle words, grace and mercy melted her broken heart. Jesus invited Mary, a prostitute, to follow him with his other disciples. He told the woman caught in adultery, dragged before him by religious leaders, that he did not condemn her, but to go and sin no more. Conservatives would have judged and stoned her as justice, liberals would have ignored the admonition to ‘not sin’ as offensive.

Grace and mercy is not a license to do anything without consequence. It is not an implication that there is no truth, that God approves of everything as long as we’re sincere, or that there will never come a time when we have to give account. Grace and mercy are gifts only given in this world, because it is where they are most needed. They are obsolete in heaven, not relevant or required.

Jesus taught that salt needs to be distributed generously and light to be positioned where it shines wide and far. Grace and mercy is the most attractive, undeserved, yet powerful manifestation of God’s Spirit and love released in the world between human beings. The Christian Church would be filled to overflowing if grace and mercy is what imperfect and sinful human beings discovered and experienced flowing from the altars of worship like great rivers of healing and hope throughout the land. Even Christians would become less self-righteous covering their private sins (known and unknown) and could enter into becoming what they are not yet. Christians are a work in progress, like everyone else.

We’re all in this together. Grace and mercy is simple and complicated. We will never understand, or give it away, until we have received it for ourselves. Receiving comes after admitting that I am still a work in progress; that, like Paul, I have stuff which I wish God would miraculously take away. God’s response to all of us is that his acceptance precedes our perfection or performance. When we know that his love is ours in our incompleteness, it will become supernaturally natural to pay it forward to and do the same for others.

We desperately need grace and mercy, not as an ideal, but as a testimony of God’s love made real on earth between human beings who don’t deserve, but desperately need those gifts, whether aware or not.

I have absolutely no hope without God’s grace and mercy. Not once in a lifetime, but every day. How about you?

Who tells the Sun to rise every morning?
Colors the sky with the shades of His glory?
Wakes us with mercy and love? Jesus does
Who holds the orphan, comforts the widow?
Cries for injustice, feels every sorrow?
Carries the pain of His children? Jesus does

So we sing praise to the Father who gave us the Son
Praise to the Spirit who’s livin’ in us
When I was a sinner, He saved me from who I was
‘Cause that’s what Jesus does

Who understands the heart of a sinner?
Showers His grace over all our mistakes?
Washes us clean with His blood? Jesus does, I believe that He does
Who sings a song of sweet forgiveness?
Who stole the keys to hell and the grave?
Who has the power to save? Jesus does, yes, He does

So we sing praise to the Father who gave us the Son
Praise to the Spirit who’s livin’ in us
When I was a sinner, He saved me from who I was
‘Cause that’s what Jesus does

Oh, what a friend, oh, what a Savior
He’s always been good, He’s always been faithful
He came to my rescue when I needed Him most
He saved my soul

So we sing praise to the Father who gave us the Son
Praise to the Spirit who’s livin’ in us
When I was a sinner, He saved me from who I was
So we sing praise to the Father who gave us the Son (gave us the Son)
Praise to the Spirit who’s livin’ in us
When I was a sinner, He saved me from who I was
God, I know that’s what Jesus does

Whoa, oh
That’s what Jesus does

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Andrew Bergthold / Franni Cash / Scott Mctyeire Cash / Edward Martin Cash / Edmond Martin Jr Cash / Kyle Reed Briskin

Jesus Does lyrics © We The Kingdom Music, Bay19, Angie Feel Good Songs, Scott Cash Publishing Designee, Martin Cash Designee, Franni Cash Designee, Neon District Music