Mercy is like receiving a divine pardon for a death sentence.
Several years ago, I understood God’s mercy through an intense experience. Following a severe stroke and embolisms in both lungs, I spent four days as a blank corpus, during which time doctors inserted six-inch needles into me without painkillers. The first faint thought I heard was, “Do not be afraid of dying. I have conquered death, and I will never forsake you.”
Once I submitted to my Shepherd, I slowly returned to moving and thinking. But honestly, I did not want to leave the bright, beautiful love and stillness where I had been.
My doctor later told me something I will never forget: “Bob, you have been given a divine pardon to a death sentence. Enjoy yourself.”
We are drowning in attitudes and behaviors that God’s holiness must exclude from His presence, and judgment day may be only a breath away. God designs His mercy for those who believe in His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. His payment on the cross was the propitiation—or satisfying payment—for our sins.
God the Father is the Father of mercy and all comfort. Therefore, any comfort with divinely satisfying quality comes directly from Almighty God.
The average life is spent living horizontally—believing that comparing ourselves to other people’s virtue provides adequate morality. God’s opinion differs and reveals that we must live a vertical life in which we discover that following the Creator’s opinions provides a life infused with mercy and comfort.
The compassionate Father of mercies and God of comfort provides insight and healing to be shared with others.
Don’t trust in good works to find God’s acceptance. Jesus Christ is the only path to the heavenly Father, the source of mercy and comfort.
(Photo courtesy of pixabay.)
(For more devotions, visit Christian Devotions.)
The Rev. Dr. Bob Segress served as a licensed psychological clinician for twenty-five years. Upon retiring, he served for fifteen years as a prison minister. Retiring again, he began writing full-time after a period of boredom. He has written: The Biblical Approach To Psychology while serving as a college educator, The Shelton Series, and, in 2012, Ten Years Inside Shelton Prison. Currently, he writes for several publications such as Halo Magazine.