Thankful, Day Twenty-Six

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands.

Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His Name.

For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.

Psalm 100, NKJV

The prophet Jeremiah wrote, in one of the brighter spots of his Lamentations, that the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, and His mercies never come to and end. Those mercies are new every morning. God's mercy is what He offers us instead of the justice we so often deserve. God's Law demands that transgressors pay for their sins, most of the time with their own lives. Basically: You sin, you die. But through Jesus Christ, who bore all of our sin and all of our punishment to Calvary's cross, God has offered us mercy instead.

I'm thankful for God's mercy that brought me into salvation, that covered a multitude of my sins, and saved me completely. His mercy is sufficient and enough. Anyone who has heard me preach very many times has probably heard about how wretched I was before I gave my life to Jesus Christ. I was mean, stubborn, and rebellious. I was a thief and a liar. I was abusive and destructive. I was a killer. Don't let any of this shock you, but it's all true. And I was only six. Think about how bad I might have become had I not received God's mercy through salvation! Thank you Jesus for your mercy.

I am so thankful for God's mercy this morning. Every morning, in fact. Because there is hardly a day that goes by that I don't need mercy for something. Sin isn't just about murder and blasphemy and adultery and lying and stealing. Jesus made it clear that thoughts and attitudes and intentions can be just as sinful as our actions. And of all people, I am the only one who knows my own heart. I repeat: there is hardly a day that goes by that I don't need mercy for something, and I'm thankful that God never runs out of it.

And I'm thankful that God's mercy is everlasting; it will not come to an end. As long as I stay repentant and humble before my God, He will continually extend His forgiveness, grace and mercy to me. As long as I remain in relationship with Him, nothing shall separate me from His steadfast love and His renewing mercies. As long as I keep calling on Him, He will keep answering with mercy. Thank you Lord that my past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure because of your mercy unto me!

Thank you God for mercy, because I am always in need of it!