Monday... Oh, we really need it.

Have you ever done something and you wish you could go back and handle it better but you can't? And it keeps coming back to haunt you?

There is a word in Titus 3.4 (NLT) that deals with this. The verse says, " But - when God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy." There is the word. The word is mercy.

Yes, we can do something and feel bad and then as a way to make us feel good remind ourselves of what a good person we are and all the good things we have done but that doesn't make the difference that mercy does. Now it would be great if the person you did it to give you mercy but you don't know where they are to tell them how bad you feel but God is there and He wants to give you mercy.

But here is the next point. We may want mercy but do we give mercy? Did someone do something to you and you still hold it against them, you have grudge toward them? What if God did that to you?

The Message Paraphrase puts verses 3-8a this way. It says, "It wasn't so long ago that we ourselves were stupid and stubborn, easy marks for sin, ordered every which way by our glands, going around with a chip on our shoulder, hated and hating back. But" That's a great word. "But when God, our kind and living Savior God, stepped in, he saved us from all that. It was all his doing, we had nothing to do with it. He gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit. Our Savior Jesus poured out new life so generously. God's gift has restored our relationship with him and given us back our lives. And there's more life to come - and eternity of life! You can count on this." And that is what mercy is all about.

Oh we really do need it and we also need to give it because He gave it to us. What a difference His mercy can and did make in our lives. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

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