pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: mercy


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Mercy’s Promise

God promises to always be with us, to never leave us.  Yet at times we can question this as we feel all alone and seem to have lost touch with our creator.  But we must remember His promise as it is always us that creates the separation or the distance.

It can happen in big things and in little things.  In Exodus 32 Moses has been gone up the mountain just long enough for Aaron and the people to start worrying.  Moses is their connection to God.  The solution?  Gather up all the gold and make a new god to worship and be led by.  Seems crazy now but at the time I’m sure it make perfect sense.

It can happen in our lives too.  We can easily allow ourselves to be drawn into conversations and activities that have God nowhere in sight.  When we suddenly realize where we’ve wandered to we ask, “How’d we get here?!”  Thankfully we serve a merciful God.  He says, “Yup, I’m still here” and “Welcome back my child”.  And just like that we are back in a right relationship with our creator.  Praise be to God!!

Scripture reference: Exodus 32: 1-6


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Bearing Fruit

God’s love is unfailing and unending.  His pursuit of us is constant.  God’s mercy and grace is a constant stream flowing to our souls.  His patience is vast.

In Matthew 21 we find the parable of the vineyard owner.  He plants a vineyard and rents it to some tenants.  This scenario parallels God’s creation of His kingdom and we are the tenants who inhabit it.  We are not owners and this earth is not our final destination.  We exist here for a short time.  Eternity will be spent elsewhere.

As we live out our lives, God expects us to bear fruit.  As His children, we are called to care for those in need, to give out of the abundance that He blesses us with.  Like the servants who came to the vineyard for the owner’s share of the fruit, God sends people into our lives that we can yield some fruit to.  Maybe it is something physical like food or shelter or clothing, maybe it is our time that we give to others.

May we hear the warning in this parable and not be like the wretched tenants who want to keep it all for themselves.  May we see that all we have is from God, the owner.  May we seek to build His kingdom by allowing our blessings to flow out to others, bearing them up in love, grace, and mercy.

Scripture reference: Matthew 21: 33-46


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A Great Mystery of Faith

One of the things universal to mankind is our proclivity to sin.  In our daily lives, temptation is all around us.  We can do certain things that makes us less likely to sin, but Satan is always at work.  Even for those that do not have a belief in God, they too have an innate sense of right and wrong.  Sin is all around us and the world’s messages are ‘just go for it’ and do whatever feels good.  But these are not God’s messages.  His message is to be like Jesus.

One of the things that is offered universally by God is grace.  His mercy and the grace offered is available to all.  His prevenient grace rests upon each and every person.  His mercy is a free gift that cannot be earned.  It is a birthrite to be claimed by all through faith in Jesus Christ.  Once a child of God, His mercies, grace, and forgiveness flow freely.  Once a child, His grace works to sanctify us, to make us daily more like His son Jesus.

God’s grace is one of the great mysteries of faith.  God’s grace is present with us from the beginning.  Once we enter into relationship with Him, we are changed, born anew.  Although we are still bent towards sin, we are bought with Jesus’ blood and begin the daily battle to ‘sin no more’.  This is a battle that we sometimes ‘lose’ but, thanks be to God, His mercies are new every morning.  Each and every time we seek His forgiveness, His grace pours down like rain.  We are washed clean and made new.  Thank you Lord for this great mystery of faith!

Scripture reference: Romans 11: 29-32


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How Do You Repsond?

Many times in life we are present in a situation where we have been wronged.  In each case we can offer mercy and forgiveness or we can be self-righteous or maybe offer an ‘I-told-you-so’ type of response.  One response brings healing and another continues the hurt.  So… why does the wrong choice often seem so much easier?

I think at times God places us in situations to test and refine our faith.  Sometimes another needs to see what this love of Christ really looks like.  (Once in a while we are that person too!)  Sometimes it is to refine our faith in God.  Through prayer and the reading of the word, we come to the place where we are ready to offer forgiveness and reconciliation.  It is also through prayer that we can come to love our enemies.

What allows us to make that hard choice?  It is the relationship we form and develop with Jesus Christ.  Through times with Him in prayer and through reading the stories in the gospel, we come to see our call to love all above self more and more.  Through our journey to draw closer to Jesus, we too draw nearer to our fellow man.

Scripture reference: Genesis 45: 1-8


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Sing to God

The Book of Psalms was like Israel’s hymnal.  The songs they sang recounted their history and their relationship with God.  Both the good and the bad are in there – psalms of praise and psalms of lament.  Most of the time they sang songs to remember their past, to seek God’s help in present trouble, or to praise their God.

The songs we now sing on Sundays or in our car or… are also ways that we connect to God.  Some of our hymns contain ‘history’ but many hymns and most contemporary songs celebrate our relationship with God and Jesus and what they bring – hope, peace, love, strength, mercy…

Song has a way of uniting us as a people of God or of bringing us to a common place.  For example, to some songs offer hope for the future while for others the same song is a call to work for justice and freedom for all.  In another way, our songs can be like scripture passages that we memorize.  We can have ‘favorites’ to sing as we praise God, as we seek to find strength or comfort in God, or as we try to connect or reconnect to God.

What are your favorite songs to sing to God?

Scripture reference: Psalms 105: 16-22 and 45b


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Strong Arms

Psalm 31:2 reads: “Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me.”  What words of trust in God – these statements represent sure things.  We know He will come to us.  We know He is our rock.  We know He will save us.  In times of crisis, pain, and despair, we turn to our God.  His strong arms will embrace us.

In Him we find strength every morning.  In Him we find His arm around us helping us in every step we take.  In Him we find comfort and peace as the sorrow and pain begin to well up again.

Verse 3 goes on, “Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me.”  Not if, not when.  God IS our rock and fortress.  In our times of struggle, may we lean into those strong arms.


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What a Shepherd!!

Sheep have a reputation for being animals that lack intelligence.  They are known to do stupid things at times – they wander off and find themselves lost or in danger.  When the shepherd isn’t around or when they cannot hear his voice, they can become lost or worse.

Sheep are a pretty good metaphor for us, aren’t they?  Not the lacking intelligence part – humans are pretty capable intellectually.  But this make it all the more ironic that at times we too wander away from Jesus, our shepherd.  We know He paid a price.  We know he bled, suffered, and died to pay for our sins yet sometimes we are prone to wander off down a different road.

When the shepherd notices a sheep is missing, he will search for that sheep until he finds it and bring it back to safety.  At times, danger comes near the sheep.  The shepherd takes up staff or sling and protects the sheep.

When we wander away, surely we will hear His voice.  When I hear Him calling, ‘John, where are you?’ then I respond, ‘Here!  Here!  Here I am!’ and I come running back.  As I come to walk again with the shepherd I wonder why I ever went astray.  But Jesus just smiles ad welcomes me back into the fold.  There is no “tsk, tsk’ or sad look in His eyes.  Just a smile and love in the eyes.  At times, do you hear Him calling?  Run to Him!  He will do the same for you.  Jesus offers love, grace, and mercy to all.  What a Good Shepherd we have!!!


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God Always Present

Psalm 23 is one the best known psalms.  It is a psalm many know by heart.  It is a passage that assures us of God’s grace and love for us.  It is a passage that speaks of God’s constant and steady hand upon us as we walk on our journey of faith.  It is a passage that speaks of God blessing us and a promise of His goodness and mercy as we live with God in our hearts.  It is a psalm of thanksgiving.

Yet it is also a psalm that brings great comfort and peace.  It is a psalm that reminds us that God is present beside the still waters and in the green pasture.  It is also a passage that assures us that in our dark and sad times, God is there too.  In the dark valleys we need him more than ever, as He is always there.

For all of these things, His presence in both the good and in the bad, we give thanks.  Romans 15:13 reads: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him; so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy spirit.”  Hope does not disappoint, for God is always near.


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The Call of Jesus

Judas betrays Jesus first in his heart, then later in action.  Was he forcing Jesus’ hand to prod Jesus into becoming the powerful, earthly king that Judas longed for him to be?  Maybe this was Judas’ goal and he cared little for 30 pieces of silver.  Or was Judas filled with greed and saw this as an opportunity to make a little money?  Maybe part of Judas thought Jesus would get out of this jam too. Either way, Judas was guided by Satan, the great deceiver.

But how could one so close to Jesus come to betray Him?  How could one of the twelve think that Jesus had come to sit on an earthly throne?  How could… But each of the twelve does deny or betray Jesus in the end.  Even Peter, the Rock, flat out denies Jesus three times in the courtyard.  All of the disciples scatter and go into hiding after the crucifixion.  Most don’t even go to the hill of Calvary to see Jesus draw the last breath and to die for the sin of the world.

Maybe this was just the lot cast to Judas, cast by powers far beyond him.  We know that Judas doe snot live long afterwards.  Was it guilt or remorse that drove him to take his own life?  Or was it him wanting to be reunited with the risen Lord?

When I think of my life, I realize how often I deny or betray Jesus.  I do every time I say that I want to be the one in control.  I do ever time I won’t fully hand over the reigns to Jesus.  I do every time I turn away from one I could help.  I do every time I choose not to see Jesus in the eyes of those in need.  Yes, sadly the list could go on. What does your list of denials and betrayals look like?

But thanks be to God!!  His mercy and love and forgiveness never fail.  God is right there to pick us back up, to dust us off, to give us a little hug and pat on the back, and to send us right back out there to be His light and love in our world.  May our eyes and ears and hearts be better attuned to hearing and answering the call.  Thanks be to God!!


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Content in Christ

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want….  Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Psalm 23, verses 1 and 6)

We trust and lean into God in good times and in bad.  The opening line to Psalm 23 is such great reassurance.  Paul also knew well the key to being content in any and all situations because he knew that God’s presence in his life was all that really mattered.  Paul always lived life with one eye on  the eternal prize.  In Philippians 4 we read these words: “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”  The strength we find in God is the key to our contentment in this life.

And the last line of the Psalm!!!  “Surely goodness and love will follow me… and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”  These words resonate so deeply within our souls.  These words are our reassurance that even though we pass through the shadows in this lifetime, God’s love and goodness are always there.  They are a foretaste of dwelling in His house forever.  When we go through the day-to-day with this in mind, we can find the contentment and peace that comes from walking with Christ.  May our walk today be in lockstep with Jesus!!