Wednesday, April 7, 2010

April's Theme: Mercy

I really am in awe of the unconditional love of God. You don’t fully realize what a gift mercy is until you see yourself at your worst and discover that even then God is still with you. God doesn’t abandon us when we fail one another instead he shows us mercy and it is the abiding presence of God despite our failures that makes change a real possibility for us. We are not transformed by God’s wrath, judgment or condemnation, but by his love and mercy.

I got so upset yesterday. I was waiting for a consultation in this Chinese herbalist store and I got irritated so quickly. You couldn’t make an appointment; they don’t write down your name or give you a number when you come in. This is really stupid to me. Instead you just walk in and hope there’s not too many people there. I felt that it was so disrespectful of my time. And while I’m waiting a couple of people come in and they are told very clearly that there are 3 people ahead of them and they will have to wait. What do they do? As soon as someone walked out of the office they walked right in; they knew full well what they were doing. That was it for me! Once that happened I was just mad at the world for the next couple of hours. Everything and everyone irritated me from that point on.

Later when I calmed down I had to laugh at myself. There was no reason for me to get that upset. With all that I have experienced of God’s love and grace and new life I could have responded to that frustration differently, but I didn’t. I’m so grateful for mercy. I’m so glad that as God watched me lose my temper it didn’t change the way he felt for me at all. He extended mercy to me before I even asked for it. He is still with me and his presence never left me. What a wonderful assurance to have that even at our worst moments God doesn’t leave us. This is mercy. This is love. And for this I am grateful.

"Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." 
Lamentations 3: 22-23

Following the Way,
Kevin

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