"Depth of Mercy"
Friday, 18 December 2015 / Matthew 9:13 As for you, go and learn what this means: ‘I want compassion rather than animal-sacrifices.’[Matthew 9:13 Hosea 6:6 ] For I didn’t come to call the ‘righteous,’ but sinners!”
There is a hymn that asks, “Depth of mercy, can there be mercy still reserved for me? Can my God His wrath forbear; me, the chief of sinners, spare?” Charles Wesley asks the question that I can’t stop asking: “How can you love the broken and sinful person that I am?”
And yet, that is the promise of the Gospel. That Jesus came to pay the price for our brokenness. And Jesus challenges us to carry on that mercy. As Jesus instructed in Matthew 9:13 (first to his disciples, but also to us) “Go figure out what I mean when I say that I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For me, it is easier to show mercy to others… I need to learn that God also wants me to show mercy to myself! I can’t be as effective showing love to others if I am unable to love myself. I am working to accept that God loves me despite my faults and that God can use even the things about me that I don’t like to further God’s plan. My past drug use? He can use that to help me relate to someone facing addictions. My impatience? I can help others with the lessons I’ve learned.
Prayer: Father God, thank you for loving me and showing me mercy. Help me to know that Jesus loves me, unconditionally. Help me to share that love and mercy with the world. Amen.[Chris Howell, Lynchburg, Virginia]
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Society of St. Andrew
3383 Sweet Hollow Road
Big Island, Virginia 24526, United States
The Society of St. Andrew is a national nonprofit hunger-relief ministry that rescues 25-30 million pounds of fresh, nutritious, excess produce each year that would otherwise go to waste for various marketing reasons. This food is then distributed to critical feeding agencies across the country at no cost to the agencies or the hungry people they serve. More information about the Society of St. Andrew and its hunger-relief programs - Gleaning Network, Potato & Produce Project, and Harvest of Hope is available online at EndHunger.org.
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sosapr@endhunger.org Society of St. Andrew
The Society of St. Andrew is a national nonprofit hunger-relief ministry that rescues 25-30 million pounds of fresh, nutritious, excess produce each year that would otherwise go to waste for various marketing reasons. This food is then distributed to critical feeding agencies across the country at no cost to the agencies or the hungry people they serve. More information about the Society of St. Andrew and its hunger-relief programs - Gleaning Network, Potato & Produce Project, and Harvest of Hope is available online at EndHunger.org.
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3383 Sweet Hollow Road
Big Island, Virginia 24526, United States
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