Titus 3:4-5

“When the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.”

The dictionary defines ‘mercy’ as, ‘the compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm’. Think of a judge who’s handing out a sentence to a criminal. A merciless judge would dole out the harshest punishment on record, determined to teach the criminal a lesson. However, a merciful judge would hand out a less stringent sentence but one that would hopefully help the perpetrator repent and be transformed.

For all the countless times we’ve sinned against God and people with our thoughts, words and actions, we did not deserve mercy. But God has been merciful towards us. Although the wages of our sin is death, He has granted us eternal life through the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 6:23). He does not deal with us according to our sins (Psalm 103:10). Instead, He blots out our sins and remembers them no more (Isaiah 43:25).

Now that we’ve been saved by God’s mercy, it’s our right and duty to live in the light of that knowledge. We can’t afford to take God’s mercy for granted. There’s nothing we can do to ever deserve His mercy, but we can live intentionally as grateful recipients of His abundant love.