Far From The Peaceful Shore,

“I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore,
very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more.
But the Master of the sea heard my despairing cry,
from the waters lifted me, now safe am I.” (James Rowe)

Grace has been defined as “receiving what we don’t deserve.” Mercy has been defined as “not receiving what we do deserve.” I hear children all of the time saying, “That’s not fair!” Many times, when life hands us a bad twist we say the same thing, “God, that’s just not fair!” As I’ve told my children many times, fair would be an eternity without God, and us paying the price for our own sin. That would be impossible, but it would be fair. Anything outside of that is God’s mercy.

We live in a world today that needs to see mercy in living color. People who have blown it sexually, financially, personally, in their marriages, in their jobs, etc., need to be shown mercy. The world around us is much like the man who was beaten and robbed by the thieves in the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37. People need the Lord’s mercy. Many have been beaten and broken by the effects of sin, theirs and others. They are sinking deep in their sins, however, many times we walk right by them on the ‘other side’ either by saying that they have made their bed so they must sleep in it, or we just ignore them and pretend that they don’t exist.

Maybe you are a person who feels, toward the ‘wounded’, “Oh, just pull yourself up by the boot straps and move on!” Well, my friend, without Christ and without His divine help and guidance and without the love and power of His Spirit through His people, the world’s ‘boot straps’ are paper thin to non-existent! They are helpless and need us to show God’s love, grace and mercy towards them. The forgiven are to show mercy like we’ve been shown mercy. Let’s never forget the ungrateful servant in Matthew 18:23-35.

Samaritans knew what it was like to be an outcast and to feel ‘thrown-away’. Do we remember what it was like to be lost and without Jesus? As we recall where we were before Christ in our lives we should be drawn to be merciful as Christ was and is to us.
Jesus, the “Good Samaritan” saw us on the road, but”

“Beautiful, that’s how mercy saw me. Though I was broken and so lost,
mercy looked past all my faults; the justice of God saw all I had done,
mercy saw me through the Son. Not was I was, but what I could be,
that’s how mercy saw me. ) Geron Davis

May we today, this week and in the days to come have the same eyes~