Mercy for the guilty
God has found everyone guilty of not obeying him. So now he can have mercy on everyone. Romans 11:32 (NIRV)
However good we may think we are, we all know we are not perfect. Even the most conceited of people would have to admit that they occasionally make mistakes. Even if you try and justify yourself or rationalise away your harmful actions, you know that sometimes what you do upsets other people.
This being the case, how can any of us stand before God and expect him to accept us as being good enough to enter into eternal glory with him? The reality is that God has given us free will which allows us to behave as we want, and the results have been less than ideal. We could look at situations regarding people around us, or we can look at wider macro-issues: inequality, economic difficulties, war and environmental disasters, and we see that the outcome of people having the freedom to do their own thing is often displayed by selfishness that leads to the suffering of others. This evil goes against God’s intention for us to live in a loving way toward each other. These wrong thoughts, words and actions are what God calls sin, and it is this sin that would lead God to conclude that we are guilty of not obeying him.
Thankfully, there is a solution. Jesus bore the punishment our sins deserve, leading Paul to proclaim that, ‘Those who belong to Christ Jesus are no longer under God’s judgment.’ (Romans 8:1). This leads us back to our key verse today. We see that we are guilty of not obeying God, yet we also marvel at how God has had mercy on us so that we no longer suffer the ultimate consequence of this sin.
This immense and undeserved love and mercy God has shown us leads Paul to conclude the following:
‘Oh, what a wonderful God we have! How great are his wisdom and knowledge and riches! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his methods! For who among us can know the mind of the Lord? Who knows enough to be his counselor and guide? And who could ever offer to the Lord enough to induce him to act? For everything comes from God alone. Everything lives by his power, and everything is for his glory. To him be glory evermore.’ (Romans 11:33-36, TLB).
Prayer
Father, we know our weaknesses and sins and how they lead to the suffering of others. We know we are deserving of punishment. Yet we also know the wonderful truth that we are saved through the work of Jesus on our behalf. We were guilty, yet you have shown mercy to us. We thank you for the Holy Spirit revealing to us this wonderful truth. In Jesus’s name we pray. Amen.
Study by Anthony Dady
Anthony Dady is a minister in Grace Communion International and is the Regional Pastor for Wales, the Midlands, and Northern England.
Local congregation:
GCI Northampton
Ecton Village Hall
78A High Street
Ecton
Northampton
NN6 0QB
Local congregational contact:
Maggie Mitchell
Email: maggie.mitchell@btinternet.com
Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church