Thoughts for another day

November 9, 2006

Today's verse: 1Chron. 17:20. O LORD, there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. (KJV)

This morning as I was traveling to work, I thought of the meanness I possess. My friend, being a person rooted to Christ is easy to say; but living it is tough. And in this world, we too behave like the people in the world. I have seen this in me and in many others too. I am sure we have our internal struggles. It is very distressing, not necessarily in our day to day relationships with people (because people don’t expect you to be what Christ wants you to be) but with God! So if you are harsh, your friends will probably tell you, ‘oh it doesn’t matter; after all we are in the process of growth.’ But when it comes to God, it’s an altogether different story.

It does matter and matters a lot. With Him there is no excuse. One cannot point to another preacher who is harsh and say, ‘look at him, he is a bigger preacher than me and he is not so good, so I can forget this internal strife.’ No. God is not going to be asking us about others; but about what we have done. And before the throne, when you are all alone, there is no escape route. And God’s justice remains.

Now this can be frightening and an indictment. However, there is an escape route. A rather narrow way. He is Christ. He is the way. My beloved in Christ, God for a moment even, does not want us to be separated from Him, how then can we ever think that He would want us to be separated for eternity. When He had ordained, the death of Christ, by Jesus’ own will on account of the love He had for the Father and the love the Father had for us, He already redeemed us. Only like the letter to the Galatians says, But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children; He revealed the Redeemer later.

You know, God’s mercy takes precedence over His justice. His love prevails. When I think of His Word, which says, His mercy is new every morning, I felt Him once telling me, ‘My mercy is not exhaustible. It never ceases. When you have sinned and you get up next morning, take it as a new day. Come back to Me. Don’t remember the past. This is a new day and My mercy remains.’ What a wonderful God we have and that is why, I pray today’s verse.