Who Is God (Part 13): He Is Merciful

No one deserves to be in heaven. No one will ever deserve to be in heaven. If we did deserve to be in heaven, it would be because we atoned for our own sins. But we did not and cannot self-atone.

Why?

We were children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3). We were God’s enemies (Romans 5:10). We were walking according to the course of this world (Ephesians 2;2). We were alienated (Colossians 1:21) and hostile to God (Romans 8:7). We were not seeking God (Psalm 14:1). We were going our own way (Isaiah 53:6).

Now, none of those Biblical references should give any of us confidence that we deserve to be in heaven because of my own spiritual lineage.

Enter God’s mercy.

A.W. Tozer explains that “Mercy is an attribute of God, an infinite and inexhaustible energy within the divine nature which disposes God to be actively compassionate” (The Knowledge of the Holy, pg. 90).

John Bunyan uses the example of two beggars coming to your door and both asking for food. One beggar is poor and wounded and starving; the other is healthy and in good spirits. They use the same words when asking for food and they both say they are starving. The 1^st man is speaking out of real pain and misery; the 2^nd man is speaking out of comfort. Who are you likely to feed? The 1^st man, right? That, I believe is how it is with God. When you come to him out of desperation, acknowledging your poorness and need and not go through the motions and formalities, God is more likely to answer a desperate soul than a cold, emotionless person. That is God’s mercy.

Without God’s mercy to us sinners, we are doomed.