To Live is Christ — choosing mercy

Earlier this month I was studying the Old Testament meaning of mercy. This word is only part of what the original Hebrew conveys. A brief description: God’s holy right to punish sin takes second place to His commitment to keep the promises He has made to His people.

This mercy is the only reason that I can go to heaven. God promised a Savior right after Adam and Eve sinned. He set up a sacrificial system so that those who believed His promise could demonstrate their faith. He made many other promises to guide and take care of all who put their trust in Him.

When Jesus came and died on the cross as the fulfillment of that first promise, God offered eternal life to everyone who believes in Jesus, their ultimate sacrificial Lamb. This is mercy. No one deserves the grace of God. We cannot earn so great a salvation. It is only mine because God is committed to keep His promises.

Nevertheless, He also loves us. I know, “For God so loved the world. . . .” but also know that His love is tender-hearted. He actually feels compassion for me.

As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep His covenant and remember to do His commandments. (Psalm 103:13–18, ESV)

I’ve been to seniors care facilities and felt compassion for those living out the last of their days. Some have told me how short life seems. God looked at me even when I was very young and knows that my days were short even then. Adam and Eve, had they obeyed God, would have lived forever. But they didn’t. They died and so has every person born since Eden. Yet God has compassion for the brevity of life.

He also has compassion for my children and my children’s children. It is true that each of them must come to Him for their own forgiveness and eternal life, but because God cares for me, He also cares for my family.

This compassion has a caveat. These verses say two times that this is for those who fear Him, and two times that this is for those who obey Him. My part is awe-filled respect and reverence for God, coupled with obedience. I must fulfill my side of His covenant of grace.

In other words, God isn’t offering a cheap salvation. Forgiveness and eternal life for me cost Him His Son. It costs me something too. My side of this mercy covenant is simple. I must give up my temporal wants and my selfish ways. In trade, I get the life of Christ and a lifetime of learning to serve Him.

I’ve fought that bargain. At times it didn’t seem fair because I could not see any further than right now. But age and experience teaches me. Fair is getting what I deserve. Mercy is a far better deal.