MINISTRIES
MINISTRIES
We’re no good. Let’s just face it. We’re no good. Each one of us is a reflection of Paul when he says, “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh…” and there’s nothing we can do about it. We are bad and we are doomed to fail and fail and fail again.
There. Now that I have your attention and you are wallowing in a sticky pile of your own self-pity, let me give you some good news. Let’s see… where did I put that good news? … Oh, well, I seem to have forgotten it. I guess we’ll just have to live with the bad news. No, I’m just kidding. I have a whole bible full of good news and it’s just waiting to get out.
The good news is that God loves us. The bible teaches us that. Jesus loves us and He will love us and that’s all there is to say about it, so we can all go home and be happy and safe and warm and content. Well, there may be a bit more to it than that… and I’ll get to that, but first I want to be really Baptist-like and give you a “holy acronym”, which, if used properly, will chase the devil and his wicked schemes out of your life once and for all. Okay, it’s not that good, but I think you’ll like it.
Mercy.
This word is the good news. It’s all about mercy. See, “…we were saved by Grace, through faith…”, but it was because of the MERCY of God that the grace was given. He is a loving God, full of mercy. Let’s dig into this word and see what we find.
Now, the way this acronym works is two-fold. Each letter represents a word that both relates to the word “MERCY” and works with the rest of the representative words in the acronym to form an idea of the word “MERCY”. You’ll see.
The “M” in the word “MERCY” stands for “Man’s”. Mercy is for man and man alone. Jesus did not come to this earth and die on a cross to offer grace to your dog or your cat (especially not your cat). He did not die for the angels or the demons or any other being, save man. We are His “mercy destination”. Mercy belongs to man.
The “E” in the word “MERCY” represents the word “Eternal”. This is a reminder that God’s mercy lasts forever. Once it is given, He will not take it back for any reason. In the 89th Psalm, verse 2, the bible tells us that “…mercy shall be built up forever…”. God is not a God who gives something only to take it away later. If He were going to take His mercy from us, He wouldn’t give it in the first place.
There is a bit more to God’s mercy. You ask, “Why do we even need mercy in the first place?” The answer is that we can’t do it on our own. We, as finite human beings, cannot get to heaven on our own. We need Him. We need Jesus and all that He is to be our “way”. Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through Me.” This brings us to the “R” in the acronym “MERCY”.
The “R” in the word “MERCY” stands for “Righteousness”. See, the holy does not associate with the unholy and the unholy cannot dwell with the holy. The bible teaches in many different ways the idea that one bad apple will spoil the bunch. This is a spiritual principle that also applies to heaven. If there were one unholy thing in heaven, heaven would no longer be holy. So, man cannot go from here to there until he is made “holy” or “Righteous”. We must remember that it is righteousness (an eternal righteousness) that God sees when He looks at us.
The “C” in the word “MERCY” represents “Christ” because it is both the mercy of Christ and the righteousness of Christ that we receive from Christ. Remember that Paul said, “…I know that no good thing dwells in me, that is, in my flesh…”? Well, he was saying that as long as it is Paul that God sees (the physical man, Paul) God will see nothing good; but if God would see the righteousness of Christ (Jesus living in Paul, the inner man) when looking at Paul, He would see “perfection”. This being the case, “…there is no longer any condemnation for those in Christ.”
And finally, the “Y” in the acronym “MERCY” represents the word “Yields” or “Yielded”. This is to remind us that mercy is not something that is just there for the taking. The word mercy gives the idea that the giver has had to give something up in order to offer it. Mercy is never something that is deserved. If we could “pay” for it or “earn” it, it wouldn’t be mercy. Christ gave Himself up for us and His mercy, grace, and love are free.
“MERCY” = Man’s Eternal Righteousness Christ Yielded.
The bible says that “…all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God…”, but it also says that “…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” That just means that if you give your life to Jesus and accept His free gift of righteousness leading to life, you’ll never die. Your body may go down to the grave, but it won’t stay there and, more importantly, the real you (your inner self, your soul) will not perish, but go on to everlasting life.
GOD BLESS.