“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
~ 1 Peter 1:3-5
My dear sister,
I love this verse because it wonderfully demonstrates the extent of God’s mercy through explaining what He has done for us. However, even though we have this verse I find that I don’t meditate on God’s mercy quite enough. So let’s meditate on it together. Let’s first consider what mercy is. Easton’s Bible Dictionary describes mercy as “compassion for the miserable.” You read correctly. Mercy is having compassion for those who are miserable, or of a pitiable state. This reveals a hard truth about what we are like before salvation and is confirmed everywhere you look in society. It means that without God, without His saving love in our lives, we would be utterly miserable. So God saw us in our miserable and sinful state and though our sin justly deserved death, He made a way for us to have life. God showed us His great mercy by sending His Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. And when Christ had accomplished that work God raised Him from the dead, conquering sin and death forever. Those who are in Christ abandon their miserable selves and receive new life in Christ, in whom there is joy that abides forever. And if that wasn’t enough to blow your mind, read the next part of the verse. Not only did God give us life by causing us to be born again but He has also prepared for us “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.” But wait! There’s even more! God, even now, is guarding you “through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” How great is this mercy that God has shown us? He owed us nothing, and we deserved nothing but death and yet He gave us everything!
So now that we have received this mercy, how should we respond to it? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy” (Matt. 5:7). In Matthew 9:13 Christ says, “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Because we have received mercy it is now required of us that we practice mercy. This is certainly a hard thing for me. Walking around campus at FSU it is all too easy to judge others based on their wardrobe, hairstyle, or colorful vocabulary. In my anger and offense, I selfishly forget that I’m supposed to show mercy to those who don’t know Christ and are therefore in that miserable state that we talked about earlier. This week I hope to find ways to decrease my judgmental thoughts and replace them with acts of mercy. For it is mercy that triumphs over judgment (Jas. 2:13). I hope you too, dear sister, will find ways to show the same kind of mercy to others that Christ has showed to us.
In Christ,
Kayla