Mercy and Grace

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Titus 2:11-13 says,”For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,   Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;   Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;”

     I have had occasion recently to be reading the book of Ezekiel which has a lot of condemnation and judgments towards Israel and Judah  and what they had been doing for the previous several hundred years.  It is not a pretty picture to say the least.  In reading that particular portion of Scripture, it just gave evidence of how God worked back in those days and how they are to be an example to us today.  One of the recurring condemnations is the profaning of the Sabbath.  God was very strict about that and the fact that they ended up in captivity for seventy years is further evidence of the importance of the Sabbath wherever it is mentioned in the scriptures.

     It is true that trying to live by the law was an impossible thing to do.  The law pointed out that we needed to have a Savior because we could not do it.  Even the first commandments, to love the Lord our God with all your heart, your soul, your mind and your strength was impossible to do.  As much as I try and think about it, i fall so short Gd could and should blow me out of the water and it would be just.  God is showing us mercy by not unloading all of the things of Ezekiel on to the church today.  We have become interested in entertaining by our fancy praise bands, and solosist and where you have to spend a half hour getting ready to hear the message.  We sit in padded pews with the air conditioning on in the summer and the heat in the winter so the temperature is just right to please the majority of the people.  Pastors are to only speak for a short time so people won’t be late for dinner.  The above passage also relates a great truth to us in th appearing of “grace.’  “Grace” is receiving that which we do not deserve and when compared to mercy is almost the opposite.  One, mercy, is holding back what we deserve, and “grace” is giving us that which we do not deserve.    When Achan disobeyed God and took the gold, silver and the fancy garment, God burned him up on the spot and everyone associated with him.  How far are we willing to go to follow after Godliness and denying worldliness?  If we are truthful, we don’t want to go to any extremes lest we be thought of as a religious fanatic.  I can praise God today that we, or I, are not living during the Old Testament times.  Those times should be an example to us of how severe the judgment of God really is and to take steps in our lives to follow more closely to His ways than the ways of the world.