Our Merciful God

14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. – Romans 9:14-18 ESV

Paul has just made the point that not all who are descendants of Abraham are considered children of the promise. Both Ishmael and Isaac were sons of Abraham, yet God chose Isaac over Ishmael. Of the two sons of Isaac, God chose Jacob over Esau. And, according to Paul, God’s choice of one son over the other had nothing to do with their behavior or perceived righteousness. In fact, while Jacob and Esau were still in the womb, God told Sarah, “The older will serve the younger” (Romans 9:12 ESV). And Paul comments that God made this announcement solely out of mercy, not merit.

But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes; he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works). – Romans 9:11-12a NLT

The twin sons in Sarah’s womb had not yet been born, so they had committed no sins and done no good deeds. Paul states that God simply chose one over the other. His plan, ordained before the world was even created, included His choosing of some over others. He chose Abraham over all the other men on the earth at the time, and not because of anything inherently righteous about Abraham. As an idol-worshiping pagan from the land of Ur, Abraham was undeserving of God’s mercy, yet God chose him. God also chose Isaac over Ishmael, even though Ishmael was Abraham’s firstborn son. He chose Jacob over Esau, despite Esau being the older twin. God chose Moses, even though he was a convicted murderer with a bounty on his head. God chose David over all the other sons of Jesse to replace Saul as king of Israel.

Paul even quotes the very words of God, spoken through the prophet Malachi.

“I have always loved you,” says the Lord.

But you retort, “Really? How have you loved us?”

And the Lord replies, “This is how I showed my love for you: I loved your ancestor Jacob, but I rejected his brother, Esau, and devastated his hill country. I turned Esau’s inheritance into a desert for jackals.” – Malachi 1:2-3 NLT

The natural, human response to all of this is to question God’s fairness or justice. Our human sensibilities struggle with the thought of God hating one and loving another. We wrestle with the idea of God choosing one and not another. And yet, as Paul illustrates, God’s seemingly arbitrary decision to elect or choose one and reject another is displayed throughout the Scriptures. Paul even quotes from Exodus 33:19, where God made the following statement to Moses:

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” – Romans 9:15 ESV

Later in this chapter, Paul explains that God is not obligated to explain or defend His actions. 

Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into? In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction. He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory. – Romans 9:20-23 NLT

According to the psalmist, “Our God is in the heavens, and he does as he wishes” (Psalm 115:3 NLT). But Paul is not trying to present God as uncaring or capricious. He emphasizes that God’s choice has nothing to do with merit; it is all based on His mercy.

So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it. – Romans 9:16 NLT

Paul even reaches back into Israel's history to show how God chose to use Pharaoh to accomplish His will and proclaim His own glory.

For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, “I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth.” –  Romans 9:17 NLT

God used the pride-filled, hard-hearted Pharaoh to display His own power and sovereign authority. In God’s plan to deliver the people of Israel from captivity in Egypt, He repeatedly hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and He did so to display His power and accomplish His divine will for His people.

We struggle with that thought because it seems out of character for God. But God did not force Pharaoh to do anything; He simply allowed the Egyptian leader to act according to his sinful nature. God could have changed Pharaoh’s heart, but He chose not to. He could have forced Pharaoh to set the Israelites free, but He chose to allow Pharaoh’s sinful disposition to set the stage for the divine display of His power and sovereign authority. 

When reading the Old Testament, we question why God chose to kill some and not others. We wrestle with the idea of God using people like pawns in some kind of celestial chess game. But in doing so, we fail to ask the question, “Why would a holy God choose to show mercy on anyone?” Why would He choose Jacob over Esau when neither son had done anything to deserve His merch? In a sermon on the story of Jacob and Esau, C. H. Spurgeon made the following comment:

“I can tell you the reason why God loved Jacob; it is sovereign grace. There was nothing in Jacob that could make God love him; there was everything about him, that might have made God hate him, as much as he did Esau, and a great deal more. But it was because God was infinitely gracious, that he loved Jacob, and because he was sovereign in his dispensation of this grace, that he chose Jacob as the object of that love.” – C. H. Spurgeon, “Jacob and Esau,” New Park Street Pulpit Volume 5

Paul’s goal in this passage is to emphasize the mercy of God, which no one deserves. The Jews, as descendants of Abraham, did not automatically qualify for His forgiveness and mercy; they still had to believe. They were required to place their faith in the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Thomas Constable comments, “It is not man’s desire or effort that causes God to be merciful but His own sovereign choice. God is under no obligation to show mercy or extend grace to anyone. If we insist on receiving just treatment from God, what we will get is condemnation” (Thomas L. Constable, Notes on Romans, 2009 Edition).

Paul told Timothy that God “wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth” (2 Timothy 2:4 NLT), but not all men will be saved. Many have rejected His offer of salvation and died in their sinful state. Many more will do so in the years to come. Some will be saved and some will not.

When God protected Noah and his family by placing them in the ark, He extended His unmerited favor. Many others drowned in the waters that covered the earth, due to their sinful, unrepentant condition. This reality is difficult for us to grasp and accept. But the Bible clearly states, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23 ESV).

All humanity deserves to die. The fact that God extends mercy to any should amaze and astound us. Until we fully understand the gravity of our sin, we will never appreciate the grace and mercy of God. Paul goes on to say, “but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23 ESV). The undeserved, unearned mercy of God should cause us to rejoice, not recoil. That the holy God of the universe should extend mercy to any of His stubborn, rebellious creations should amaze us. In Chapter 3, Paul quoted from a psalm of David.

Only fools say in their hearts,
    “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and their actions are evil;
    not one of them does good!

The Lord looks down from heaven
    on the entire human race;
he looks to see if anyone is truly wise,
    if anyone seeks God.
But no, all have turned away;
    all have become corrupt.
No one does good,
    not a single one! – Psalm 14:1-3 NLT

Yet, in His mercy, God chooses some. 

Father, this is a diffucult concept for us to understand. It goes against our better judgment and seems to contradict the statement, “God is love.” Yet, Your love and mercy go hand in hand. In fact, as John records, You loved the world that You gave Your only son, “that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NLT). When wrath and judgment were deserved, You displayed mercy. But that mercy must be received. In His earthly ministry, Jesus told the Jewish religious leaders, “The Father who sent me has testified about me himself. You have never heard his voice or seen him face to face, and you do not have his message in your hearts, because you do not believe me—the one he sent to you. You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life” (John 5:37-40 NLT). 

You didn’t have to show me mercy, but You did. You weren’t obligated to save me, but You did. You could have condemned all humanity to death, but instead, You chose to save some. And while I don’t fully comprehend it, I deeply appreciate it. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

Never Forget.

May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. – 2 Thessalonians 3:6 ESV

Living life on this planet can be difficult at times. As followers of Christ, it can be especially so, because we have been called to live lives worthy of God in the midst of a culture that is diametrically opposed to us. It can be easy to lose our focus, grow impatient, feel scared, or become angry. Paul knew that. That is why he prayed this short little prayer on behalf of the believers in Thessalonica. For the most part, they were former pagans who had come to know Christ and were now struggling with everything from persecution to the influence of false teaching. Paul referred to these false teachers as “perverse and evil people” (2 Thessalonians 3:2 NET). The believers to whom Paul wrote and for whom he prayed were struggling with trying to love the Christian life while constantly having to deal with the attacks of the enemy and the daily reality of their own sin natures. So what was Paul's prayer for them? That God would direct their hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. Notice that he does not pray that God would remove them from their difficulties. He doesn't ask God to remove the false teachers or stop the persecution. His request of God isn't that He give them joy. No, he asks God to direct their hearts. He wants God to gently, kindly guide their hearts into a better understanding of just how much they are loved by God. Not only that, Paul's request includes that they fully comprehend the degree to which Jesus suffered in order that they might have a right relationship with God. The writer of Hebrews emphasizes the suffering of Jesus and our need to fully comprehend what He endured in order that we might have eternal life – “let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin” ( Hebrews 12:1-4 NLT). Those two things – the love of God and the endurance of Christ – should provide us with the motivation we need to keep on keeping on. But our natural tendency will be to take them both for granted. It is so easy for us to forget just how amazing it is that God loved us so much that He sent His Son to die in our place. And that He expressed that love “while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8 ESV). When we deserved the worst, He gave us His best. And we also tend to overlook the incredible reality that Jesus willingly and humbly took on human flesh, lived life as a man, was tortured and hung on a cross, and died so that we might be restored to a right relationship with God the Father. Paul puts it this way: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5-8 ESV).

When we find ourselves suffering and struggling in this life, we need to be reminded of the love of God as expressed in the suffering and death of His Son. God's love for us is directly tied to the gift of His Son for us. God sent His Son because He loved us. Jesus came and died because He loved us. Jesus was willing to suffer humiliation, persecution, rejection, false accusations, and a death He didn't deserve – all out of love for us. With all that that in mind, Peter tells us, “In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation” (1 Peter 5:10 NLT). We need to keep life in perspective. Along with Paul, we need to constantly remember that “what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later” (Romans 8:18 NLT). We are loved by God. He gave us His greatest gift – His own Son – as proof of that love. And His Son suffered in ways that we will never be able to comprehend, as proof of His love for us. We must never lose sight of those two realities. But because Paul knew that the tendency of all believers would be to do just that, he prayed that God would guide their hearts back to those two incredible truths: the love of God and the faithful, loving endurance of Jesus. I can't think of a better way to wrap this up than with the words of Paul found in his letter to the believers in Rome.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:31-39 ESV

God = Love.

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. – 1 John 4:16 ESV

John has already told us that God is light (1 John 1:5). Now he lets us in on another significant reality about God's divine character. He is love. He doesn't just love. He is love. It is His very nature. In fact, all that He does is done as an expression of His love. But that raises some interesting and somewhat mind-boggling contradictions for us as human beings. It causes us significant confusion because we have a hard time reconciling the images of God's wrath, judgment, and punishment as revealed in the Bible. These seeming contradictions raise questions that usually begin with the words, “But how could a loving God …” We wrestle with stories from the Old Testament that picture God as demanding the annihilation of entire groups of people. We struggle with the concept that God would punish people by condemning them to an endless existence in a place of perpetual torment. Trying to comprehend these two extremes has caused many to either reject God altogether or to attempt to rationalize and reconstruct their image of God. Many believers, uncomfortable with the concept of God as a judge who metes out justice and judgment, have simply re-imagined Him, eliminating His less-attractive characteristics and recreating Him as the all-loving, all-accepting, all-inclusive, all-for-us, all the time God. Richard Rohr, a Franciscan friar and popular author and speaker, represents many who have chosen to rethink their view of God. “We must get this clear, together, to see real progress. Is God good? Is He Loving, Peaceful? Does God look like Jesus, who forgave 7×70 times, even to the point of death, and lived a non-violent, non-retributive life? Or… Is God angry? Is He violent and warring? Does God look like the god portrayed in the Old Testament, commanding wars, genocide and destruction? Does He look like a retributive, end-times Jesus who will ‘kill millions upon His return,’ seemingly having a cut-off point’ to His own teaching on forgiveness?” Unable to reconcile the two seeming extremes of God as portrayed in the Scriptures, Richard Rohr and others have simply chosen to construct their own view of God. They prefer to camp and count on the all-loving version. Why? Because they are uncomfortable with what they refer to as the schizophrenic God of the Bible. They say, “He cannot be a warring, genocidal maniac, and then a loving servant Savior who forgives and includes all – especially the most undesirable – and finally a bloodthirsty, horse-riding, sinner-slayer who enacts ‘justice’ in ‘the end.’” So they recreate Him in their own image. But doing so requires that they view the Sciptures no longer as God's revelation of Himself to man, but as man's attempt to reveal their marred and somewhat immature understanding of God. The Bible becomes nothing more than a collection of human stories revealing mankind's growing and progressively enlightening view of God. And Jesus becomes no longer a Savior from sin, but a seer who helps man see the truly loving side of God.

But the problem with all this is that John and the other apostles tell us, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10 ESV). John is not afraid to talk about sin. And he is most certainly not afraid to testify that mankind needs a Savior from sin. In fact, as far as John was concerned, the greatest expression of God's love for mankind was the selfless, sacrificial, undeserved death of His own Son. The brutal execution of Jesus was God's love on display. Hard to understand? Difficult to comprehend? You bet. Sounds harsh and barbaric doesn't it? It assaults our sensibilities. But just because we can't reasonably rationalize how a loving God could require the brutal death of His own Son in order to pay for sins He didn't even commit, doesn't mean we should totally reconstruct the scenario to better suit our sensibilities. Jesus Himself told us, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13 ESV). Death as an expression of love. It is God's holiness, righteousness, and justice that make His love all that more incredible. Paul reminds us, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 ESV). Our sin separated us from God. Our sin required a just and holy God to do the right thing and mete out judgment and the deserved punishment. But God loved. When man couldn't live up to the holy standards of a righteous God, He stepped in and did something about it. He loved us when we were at our worst. But His love didn't overlook our sin. He didn't just dismiss our guilt and ignore our debt. To do so would have required Him to be less than God. No, God remained just, holy, and righteous while loving us at the same time. But to do so, someone had to die. Someone had to pay the penalty. His own Son. The sinless Son of God. And it is that remarkable act of LOVE that should motivate and inspire our love for others. We don't make God more loving by attempting to make Him less judgmental. For God to ignore our sin would not have been loving, anymore than a father to ignore the rebellion of a child. God's love shines greatest when we see man's sin at its darkest. Man is sinful. Sin is rebellion against God. The penalty for sin is death – eternal separation from God. But God loved. He paid the penalty by sending His Son to die – out of love. As an expression of His love. Because He loves. Love is at its most beautiful when juxtaposed against a backdrop of unloveliness and undeservedness. Loving the unlovely isn't just hard. It's impossible. Without the love of God.

Perfect Love.

No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. – 1 John 4:12 ESV 1 John 4:7-21

Twenty seven times in 16 verses, John references “love.” He tells us to “love one another,” that “whoever loves has been born of God,” that “God loves us first,” and that “God is love.” He also speaks of love being “perfected” and “perfect.” Those two words, when associates with love, come across as unachievable and impossible in this lifetime. How in the world are we, as believers with active sin natures, to love perfectly? Can our love really be perfected in our lifetime? Or is it something we have to wait for until Christ returns and we are glorified and made to be like Him?

John gives us the answer to these questions and more. He commands us to love one another. And where did he get that command? From Jesus Himself. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34 ESV). We are to love one another in the same way that Jesus loved us: Selflessly and sacrificially. Jesus reminds us, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13 ESV). And this love that Jesus expressed came directly from God the Father. It was God's love lived out through Jesus' life. “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8 NLT). Jesus gave His life as an expression of the love of God. God loved the world through Jesus. He was the conduit of God's love. And God wants us to do the same thing through us. Starting with our brothers and sisters in Christ. He wants His love to be perfected through us. That word in the Greek is teleioō and is means “to carry through completely” or “to bring to an end.” God wants His love to flow through us to one another and not simply end on us. In fact, it was for this very thing that Jesus prayed in the garden on the night of his betrayal. “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me” (John 17:22-23 NLT). Jesus' death has made it possible for God's love to flow through us to one another. The same love God has for His Son has been poured out on us so that we might pour it out on each other, and so prove that we are His disciples. John reminds us, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10 ESV). As a result, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19 ESV). And when we love one another, we make visible the love of God. In fact, we make the transcendent, invisible God tangible and knowable. “ No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:12 ESV). Men can't see God, but they can see God's love through us. Paul tells us that Jesus was “the visible image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15 NLT). John, in his gospel, wrote this regarding Jesus: “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known” (John 1:18 NIV). But the most radical expression of God's love was through Jesus' death. John puts it this way: “In this is love…that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10 ESV). Jesus' selfless sacrifice of His own life was a declaration and proof of God's love for man.

But let's take it back to us. Can we love like Jesus loved? Can we love perfectly or completely? I think the answer lies in our understanding of what John meant by “perfect love.” He isn't talking about something we manufacture or create. He is talking about God's love being carried through us to its intended destination: others. God's love was not meant to dead end with us. He loved us so that we might love others. Again, John puts it in very clear terms. “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 John 4:16 ESV). How do we know how much God loves us? Because of His Son's death in our place. We live in that love, counting on it daily, trusting in it regularly. “By this is love perfected with us” (1 John 4:17 ESV). As we live in His love, it begins to flow out of us. As we remember and rely on His unconditional love for us, we realize that there is no legitimate reason we should not share that same love with others for whom His Son died. We are not having to conjure up love for others. We are simply sharing or passing on the love that God has shown to us through His Son. I love the imagery Paul uses to explain the power that we have available within us. “For God, who said, ‘Let there be light in the darkness,’ has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves” (2 Corinthians 4:16-17 NLT). It isn't our love that is perfect, but His love being made carried through to completion through us. Most often, in spite of us.

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The Kindness of God.

2 Samuel 9-10, 1 Corinthians 7

So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate always at the king's table. Now he was lame in both his feet. – 2 Samuel 9:13 ESV

The story of David and Mephibosheth is a remarkable picture of the grace God has extended toward undeserving mankind. After becoming king over all of Israel, David could have taken vengeance out on any of the descendants of Saul. After all, Saul had repeatedly tried to eliminate David as the God-ordained successor to his throne. It would have made perfectly logical sense for David to eliminate any of Saul's potential heirs in order to solidify his rule. But instead, David sought out the remaining household of Saul, not to destroy them, but to show them mercy and grace. David said, “Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God to him?” (2 Samuel 9:3 ESV). David's words are significant. He wanted to show the kindness of God – the same kindness God had shown to him. David recognized that his position as king of Israel was not deserved. He had not earned it. It had been made possible by the grace and kindness of God. So he wanted to extend that same kindness to the remaining heirs of Saul. When Mephibosheth, the grandson of Saul, was brought before David, he was told, “Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul your father, and you shall eat at my table always” (2 Samuel 9:7 ESV). Shocked by this news, Mephibosheth could only respond, “What is your servant that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?” (2 Samuel 9:8 ESV). Mephibosheth knew he was undeserving of David's kindness. He did not merit the grace, mercy and unbelievable generosity of the king.

What does this passage reveal about God?

As has been said before, David was referred to by God as a man after His own heart. He had a sensitivity to the ways of God. In this story, we see that David was fully aware of God's kindness and grace towards him, which made him predisposed to turn around and extend that same kindness toward others – not because they deserved it. What is amazing is that David was willing to extend this kindness to a young man who had nothing to offer in return. The passage makes it clear that Mephibosheth was crippled. He wasn't even a real threat to David's kingdom. He was lame in both of his feet and would never have been considered a viable candidate for the kingship of Israel. But David showed him kindness anyway. And what David did for Mephibosheth was shocking. He restored to him all the lands that had belonged to his grandfather, Saul. He gave him a permanent place at his royal table. David made Mephibosheth a part of his royal family, and Mephibosheth is stunned by this turn of events. He recognizes his undeservedness and couldn't help but marvel at David's astounding kindness. But all of this is just a shadow of what God has done for us as believers in Jesus Christ. He has taken sinful men like us and made us His heirs and permanent residents of His eternal kingdom. Paul reminds us, “while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Romans 5:10 ESV). To the Colossian believers Paul wrote, “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (Colossians 1:21-22 ESV). There was a time when all believers were in the same state as Mephibosheth. We were living in exile, separated from God, deserving of death, and incapable of doing anything to save ourselves. But God showed us mercy. He extended to us grace. He showered us with kindness. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved — and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:4-9 ESV).

What does this passage reveal about man?

Mephibosheth had everything going against him. He was not only the grandson of Saul, David's arch enemy, he was crippled. In that day and age, to be lame was seen as a curse from God. The Jews believed that physical illness was directly tied to sin. Even when Jesus and His disciples encountered a blind man, the disciples asked, ““Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2 ESV). The disciples wrongly assumed that the man's blindness was a result of sin. As a crippled man, Mephibosheth would have been viewed with disdain. He would have been an outcast, even as the grandson of the former king of Israel. And as a descendant of Saul, Mephibosheth would have had another strike against him. He would have been seen as an enemy of David, a constant reminder of the former regime and fully deserving of the wrath of the newly appointed king. But again, Mephibosheth represents us. “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person — though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die — but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8 ESV).

How would I apply what I’ve read to my own life?

Like Mephibosheth, I am undeserving of God's kindness. I was a sinner, as good as dead, unable to save myself or do anything to redeem myself from the righteous judgment of a holy God. And yet, I was shown mercy and grace. I was the recipient of God's kindness and love – not because of me, but in spite of me. David had experienced the kindness of God. He had been rescued from his exile in the wilderness where he was hiding from the wrath of Saul. He had been restored to fellowship with the people of God. He had been placed on the throne of Israel as their king. And none of this escaped David's notice. In return, he wanted to show that same kindness – the kindness of God – to others. He chose to show it to the “least of these.” David extended mercy in the same way that he had received it. He didn't base it on merit. He didn't do it in order to get something in return. Paul makes it clear that the mercy we have received from God was undeserved – “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5 ESV). I must be willing to show others the same kind of mercy, grace, and kindness I have received from God. Not based on their merit. Not based on what they can do for me in return. But solely based on the kindness that God has shown me.

Father, what an amazing picture of Your grace. I was Mephibosheth, crippled, hopeless and helpless, and yet You showed me kindness. You restored me to fellowship with You and made me Your heir. You have given me a permanent place at Your table and now call me Your Son. Help me to extend that same amazing kindness to all those I meet, whether I think they deserve it or not. Amen