Mercy and grace always present
by Pastor Peter Bean
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Keep yourselves in God’s love … with his mercy to give you life forever (Jude 21).
It’s easy to be caught up in the times! To be annoyed at governments, frustrated about (others’) selfishness, wonder why the church has much less influence in today’s society and wish the world would end!
But the writer here – despite what was happening in the world at the time – encourages us. ‘Use your faith to build yourselves up’ (verse 20). And in verse 21, there is further encouragement: remain in God’s love. Live in his mercy. If there is an antidote to the end times and the dangers they will bring, this is it.
No matter whether it is the end times or not, God’s love is constant. His mercies endure forever, as Lamentations 3 tell us. Every morning, just as the sun rises (and it is streaming through my window as I write this), we are reminded that God’s love is ever-new. If we remember this each day and live it out, the world must surely be a better place.
It is God’s mercy that gives you life forever (verse 21). Just as the writer of John’s Gospel lets us know, living forever is not something in the distant future, but it is present for us now in God’s mercy. I don’t totally understand that, but I am secure in it. That doesn’t take away the horrors and worries of the world we live in, nor does it take away the realities of sickness, physical or mental disability or emotional upheaval. But it does provide a fortress, a buffer, a reassurance that the world cannot give.
God’s mercy and grace sustain us. In all the turmoil of the world (end times or not), mercy and grace are ever-present, as reliable as the sun each morning. Life forever, even amid chaos.
What a wonderful God we have.
Lord God, thanks for mercy and grace. Thanks for the reminder each morning as we see the sunrise that you are present, that we can share in the life eternal you have won for us. Amen.
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