{"id":22422,"date":"2014-10-21T00:20:12","date_gmt":"2014-10-21T04:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=22422"},"modified":"2014-10-20T23:48:36","modified_gmt":"2014-10-21T03:48:36","slug":"justice-mercy-grace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/10\/21\/justice-mercy-grace\/","title":{"rendered":"Justice, Mercy, and Grace"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SeekingHimLogo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and rich in faithful love.
\nHe will not always accuse us or be angry forever.
\nHe has not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our offenses.
\nFor as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His faithful love toward those who fear Him.
\nAs far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
\nAs a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
\nFor He knows what we are made of, remembering that we are dust.
\nPsalm 103:8-14 HCSB<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cJustice<\/strong> <\/em>is getting what you deserve.
\nMercy<\/em> <\/strong>is NOT getting what you deserve.
\nGrace<\/strong> <\/em>is getting what you DON\u2019T deserve\u201d
\n\u2013 Chuck Smith<\/p>\n

As I read this passage I was struck by God\u2019s mercy and grace. \u00a0Using Chuck Smith\u2019s quote I divided the verses into two categories…Mercy and Grace.<\/p>\n

Mercy<\/em> \u2013 withheld punishment<\/strong>
\n*slow to anger \u2013 verse 8
\n*He will not always accuse us or be angry forever \u2013 verse 9
\n*He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our offenses \u2013 verse 10<\/p>\n

Grace<\/em> \u2013 unmerited favor<\/strong>
\n*The Lord is compassionate and gracious, and rich in faithful love \u2013 verse 8
\n*For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His faithful love toward those who fear Him \u2013 verse 11
\n*As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us \u2013 verse 12
\nAs a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him \u2013 verse 13<\/p>\n

These are the characteristics of God. \u00a0As I continued to study this passage a thought kept re-ocurring: \u00a0\u201cThis is how God deals with me. Is this how I deal with others<\/em>?\u201d \u00a0OUCH! \u00a0Here is what I mean:<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus,\u201d Romans 8:1 (HCSB)…yet, how often are we so quick to condemn others sins? (and often ignore our own.)<\/p>\n

\u201cI, even I, am He Who blots out and cancels your transgressions, for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins.\u201d Isaiah 43:25 (AMP)…yet, how long do we nurse our hurts, our anger or hold a grudge?<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd they will go to others and say, \u2018I have sinned, I have perverted what is right, but I did not get what I deserved.\u201d Job 33:27 (NIV)…yet, how often do we seek retaliation or revenge when we have been wounded?<\/p>\n

Now look at these verses:<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you?
\nDoes this mean nothing to you?
\nRomans 2:4 NLT<\/p>\n

But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me
\nas a prime example of His great patience with even the worst sinners.
\nI Timothy1:16a NLT<\/p>\n

So I have to ask myself some hard questions\u2014<\/h4>\n
    \n
  • Do I exhibit the patience and grace God has shown me?<\/li>\n
  • Do I offer compassion and love to those around me.<\/li>\n
  • Am I forgiving and merciful?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    I wish I could answer a resounding YES to these questions. I can not\u2014not in every case. But I can praise God for these qualities I see in Him. I can seek His help as I strive to demonstrate such qualities in my own life. It is the very least I can do, considering all He has done for me.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0 * \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 \u271e \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 *<\/span><\/p>\n

    Lord, I humbly come before You today, thanking You for being so patient with me. Your mercy and grace are beyond limits. Aid me in reflecting Your character to those around me. Remind me when I am tempted to fall back on my human emotions of all You have done for me. May my life bring honor and glory to You. In Your precious name I ask this, AMEN \u2013 It Is So!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and rich in faithful love. He will not always accuse us or be angry forever. He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our offenses. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":13840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3020],"tags":[5889,3367,1287,425,7597,7596,3174],"class_list":["post-22422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-cynda-cottrill","tag-daily-devotions-2","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-gods-grace-and-mercy","tag-justice-mercy-grace","tag-seeking-him-devotional","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-5PE","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22422"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22426,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22422\/revisions\/22426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}