Mercy, not Punishment...Love, not Judgment

Once you were not a people,
   but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
   but now you have received mercy.

“This is that of which I speak”, which is my annoying rendition of “That’s what I’m talking about!”  Mercy, thank you Lord for Your mercy.  It is mercy that is all too often forgotten about in today’s world of the people of God.  Ignorance begets mercy.  Uncertainty begets mercy.  Fence sitting begets mercy.  “Begets”, that is one of those King James words that means ‘give birth to’. 

There is a line in the movie “Casablanca” where Ingrid Bergman is so confuzzled (confused and puzzled) by all that is happening around her that she cannot even think straight any longer.  That is where Humphrey Bogart steps in and says that he will do the thinking for the both of them.  That is the relationship we have with God when we are confuzzled. 

I do not like preachers who claim that if you do not know Jesus well enough-on some subjective scale, your soul is in danger of eternal hell. Those preachers are trespassing on the foundations of judgment and the bible is very clear about judgment.  God handed that over to Jesus to dispense.  It does not come with a Seminary degree, it does not come with ordination, it does not come with the soapbox when someone feels the urge to jump up and talk about Jesus.

The idea is that the human being is responsible for being ‘sure enough’ about their faith in Christ to arrive at a state of grace.  There is a theological expression for that.  It is called “works righteousness”.  That teaches that our salvation comes through the works that we do in our own lives, that we can somehow balance the scales at the end of our existences.  It defies what Paul taught, “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” and it cheapens the grace that Jesus bought for us in his death and resurrection.  Why should Jesus be obedient even to death on the cross when salvation depends on our work?  If that were so, we should be the ones called upon to be obedient to death, even on the cross.

The fact is salvation is not like homework.  It would be far quicker for our kids if we, the parents, did their homework for them (that assumes we CAN do their homework).  It is cheating.  Salvation is not like that.  It is a free gift put on the table for everyone to take hold of.  You do not have to understand all the nuances to receive it.  You do not have to earn it.  You do not have to learn lessons to receive the bounty it offers.  God gives it to us.

And for anyone who thinks that God is a fool, because people will take advantage, I can only pause and blink my eyes repeatedly to hold my tongue and keep something from coming out that I will have to confess later.  Because it is GOD and no one puts something over on God.  God made us, God loves us, God saves us, by His mercy, even from our own ignorance.

Thus is the way of God.