1 Timothy 1:16




'God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realise that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life.'
The apostle Paul never forgot his colourful past. He had been so committed to his Jewish faith that he had gone to extraordinary lengths to destroy the Church. He was convinced that Jesus was the enemy of everything that he held dear and so he enthusiastically threw his energies into trying to crush Christianity. When his life was turned around on the road to Damascus, it changed everything. He came to realise how completely wrong he had been and to see the wickedness of what he had done. He felt that he was the worst possible sinner but all of that changed when he encountered the mercy of God. He knew he could never have deserved God’s love and forgiveness, but he received it anyway, because God is also unfathomably merciful.
Mercy is a wonderful thing, but it can be hard for us to receive because we understand the principle of justice. If I exceed the speed limit, I expect there to be consequences and, although I might mutter and complain about it, I know that I have no right to be surprised. That’s how a just system works, and we all want to live in a society that respects the principles of justice. But if I do something wrong and am told that there is no penalty and no rebuke because I have been forgiven, that flies in the face of justice. That’s what the apostle Paul struggled with. He knew that he deserved condemnation, but what he received was mercy and forgiveness.


Paul’s experience of mercy totally changed his understanding of life. He concluded that if God could have mercy on him after his catalogue of sin, God could be merciful to anyone! Here is good news for all of us. Whatever wrongs we may have done God reaches out to us in mercy. It may be hard to take because we know how richly we deserve to be condemned, but God opens his arms to each of us and promises to set us free.




Question: How do you respond to the fact that God has treated you with mercy?
Prayer: Loving God, thank you for not treating me with justice but with endless mercy. Amen

Released on 24 Sep 2022