Rich In Mercy

ByJim Stephens

Scripture: Ephesians 2

1 Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. 4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) 6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.  (Ephesians 2:1, 4–6 NLT)

As long-term Christians, it can be so easy for us to slip into the attitude that before we came to Christ, we were perhaps a little bit imperfect, but not too bad, all things considered! The reality is that whether we were mostly moral or guilty of very bad behavior, we were dead because our sins, small or great, separated us from God!

But God is so rich in mercy! God is rich in a lot of things! He’s rich in power, glory, holiness, justice, righteousness, and majesty! But you and I can be eternally grateful that God is also rich in mercy! Because he is rich in mercy and because he loved us so much (even though we were sinners—big bad sinners and little religious sinners), he gave us life. He didn’t just clean us up and dust us off because we were pig-pen dirty, he gave us life because we were dead!

Who needs mercy? Guilty people! Who needs life? Dead people! So let’s not ever allow ourselves to drift into thinking “It wasn’t so bad. I wasn’t so bad. OK, It’s nice to have a little bit of help from Jesus, but, thanks anyway, I think I can take it from here.”

Actually I was dead in sin and disobedience, because of sin and disobedience, and I didn’t have a prayer. But because God is so rich in mercy and because he loves you and me so much, he gave us life! It’s that big a deal, friends! And now he lets you and me sit with him at his abundant table in his heavenly dining room, and we sit with him as part of the family of God. It was that bad, and now it’s that good!

Prayer:

Father, Thank you so much on behalf of my friends and me, that when we were guilty as sin, you were rich in mercy, and when we were dead in sin and disobedience, you gave us life in Christ. “Thank you” seems so inadequate, but “thank you” is what I’ve got! Thank you! I love you because you loved me first. For Jesus’ sake! Amen.