You mean grace isn't just what we say before meals?
When I was little, I used to think of grace as something I sometimes said before dinner. I never prayed before meals on a regular basis, it usually happened at family gatherings or Girl Scout camp. It was one of those words I heard in church, the priest would say something about the grace God shows us, but I never really understood what it meant, or gave it much thought. The same thing goes for the word mercy. I’d hear passages of Scripture talking about God’s great mercy for us, but never really thought about what it actually meant.
I never really thought about what mercy actually meant until my sophomore year in college. I was being discipled by an upper classman, and she asked me to take a spiritual gifts quiz. Essentially, the quiz evaluated different areas of my life to reveal how God had gifted me to serve others. I remember at the end of the quiz, I was surprised to see that mercy was my top gift. I had no idea what that meant. As Jen and I talked about it, I realized the gift of mercy was about having compassion and empathy for others. The one thing that stuck out to me in the definition was the ability to see and care for others that people often overlook. Memories of girl scout camp and spending extra time with the girls who had developmental disabilities instantly came to mind. The more I thought about, the more I realized my passion for helping others came from this gift. Mercy in this sense refers to performing acts of kindness toward others.
To be honest, I haven’t really given much thought beyond that to what mercy actually means. In community group this week we talked about the difference between grace and mercy and I realized I still had a cavalier attitude about mercy. (And grace!) When Christians talk about God’s mercy, the meaning changes from what I had previously thought. The work book we have been going through describes mercy as withholding something that we deserve, giving the example of going over the speed limit, but when a police officer pulls you over, he doesn’t give you a ticket. You broke the law and are fully deserving of a speeding ticket, but through mercy he withholds that ticket.
Grace goes beyond mercy. If a police officer shows you grace, not only does he not give you the ticket, but he erases all of your outstanding tickets and hands you 50 dollars. Grace goes beyond withholding what we actually deserve, it is also giving us what we do not deserve. God’s grace is giving us salvation when we have done nothing to deserve it. Through God’s mercy, He withholds the penalty of sin through Jesus’ death on the cross. The debt that we owe has already been paid. God’s grace is shown to us in that not only are we forgiven of our sins, but God blesses us with different gifts. (Not just the spiritual gifts that I mentioned earlier.) God’s grace is shown to us in that He calls us children, we are made co-heirs with Christ. Not only is punishment of our sins withheld, but we are given the gift of life with Him and in Him. Grace is the gift of the Holy Spirit, God’s dwelling within us. Grace is evidenced in the blessings we receive from God.
So are mercy and grace actually different words or synonyms? I think that mercy is a component of grace and that like many words; both mercy and grace have multiple meanings. I think that the word mercy is used as a spiritual gift instead of grace to differentiate between the grace we receive from God and the grace we can receive from others. We receive God’s mercy and grace because of His great love for us. Mercy in the sense of spiritual gifts isn’t that we withhold from others what they actually deserve, mercy in this sense refers to compassion and empathy we have toward others. Like grace, it has a giving component. The grace and mercy we receive from God is different from the grace and mercy we receive from others. It makes me want to know the literal meanings of the Greek words for grace and mercy in the New Testament.
Lately I've been learning about how much of my faith I take for granted. God has given me some seriously awesome gifts and I never thank Him like I should. It's not about a guilt trip, but it's realizing that I don't give God what He rightly deserves. It makes me think of how I act toward my parents. They have given me so much and shown me so much love, but do I ever really thank them for what they've done? Sometimes, but no where near as much as I should. How much greater is what God has done for me than what my parents have done for me? A lot. But that's the closest metaphor that I can think of that comes remotely close to describing God. One of the other things I've been learning is that God is so much greater than the metaphors we use to describe Him. But metaphors are all we have and we just have to realize that we can never really come close to seeing the true majesty of God this side of Heaven. We can come close, but our human understanding and vision is vastly limited. But the way I see it, limitations are part of our free will. Because we are stubborn, free-thinking creatures, we need limitations because they serve as a point of comparison. Our present suffering and limitations make us that much more appreciative of God and help us know Him more.
God is so infinitely beautiful. His mercy and grace are so amazingly precious. Think about it.
I never really thought about what mercy actually meant until my sophomore year in college. I was being discipled by an upper classman, and she asked me to take a spiritual gifts quiz. Essentially, the quiz evaluated different areas of my life to reveal how God had gifted me to serve others. I remember at the end of the quiz, I was surprised to see that mercy was my top gift. I had no idea what that meant. As Jen and I talked about it, I realized the gift of mercy was about having compassion and empathy for others. The one thing that stuck out to me in the definition was the ability to see and care for others that people often overlook. Memories of girl scout camp and spending extra time with the girls who had developmental disabilities instantly came to mind. The more I thought about, the more I realized my passion for helping others came from this gift. Mercy in this sense refers to performing acts of kindness toward others.
To be honest, I haven’t really given much thought beyond that to what mercy actually means. In community group this week we talked about the difference between grace and mercy and I realized I still had a cavalier attitude about mercy. (And grace!) When Christians talk about God’s mercy, the meaning changes from what I had previously thought. The work book we have been going through describes mercy as withholding something that we deserve, giving the example of going over the speed limit, but when a police officer pulls you over, he doesn’t give you a ticket. You broke the law and are fully deserving of a speeding ticket, but through mercy he withholds that ticket.
Grace goes beyond mercy. If a police officer shows you grace, not only does he not give you the ticket, but he erases all of your outstanding tickets and hands you 50 dollars. Grace goes beyond withholding what we actually deserve, it is also giving us what we do not deserve. God’s grace is giving us salvation when we have done nothing to deserve it. Through God’s mercy, He withholds the penalty of sin through Jesus’ death on the cross. The debt that we owe has already been paid. God’s grace is shown to us in that not only are we forgiven of our sins, but God blesses us with different gifts. (Not just the spiritual gifts that I mentioned earlier.) God’s grace is shown to us in that He calls us children, we are made co-heirs with Christ. Not only is punishment of our sins withheld, but we are given the gift of life with Him and in Him. Grace is the gift of the Holy Spirit, God’s dwelling within us. Grace is evidenced in the blessings we receive from God.
So are mercy and grace actually different words or synonyms? I think that mercy is a component of grace and that like many words; both mercy and grace have multiple meanings. I think that the word mercy is used as a spiritual gift instead of grace to differentiate between the grace we receive from God and the grace we can receive from others. We receive God’s mercy and grace because of His great love for us. Mercy in the sense of spiritual gifts isn’t that we withhold from others what they actually deserve, mercy in this sense refers to compassion and empathy we have toward others. Like grace, it has a giving component. The grace and mercy we receive from God is different from the grace and mercy we receive from others. It makes me want to know the literal meanings of the Greek words for grace and mercy in the New Testament.
Lately I've been learning about how much of my faith I take for granted. God has given me some seriously awesome gifts and I never thank Him like I should. It's not about a guilt trip, but it's realizing that I don't give God what He rightly deserves. It makes me think of how I act toward my parents. They have given me so much and shown me so much love, but do I ever really thank them for what they've done? Sometimes, but no where near as much as I should. How much greater is what God has done for me than what my parents have done for me? A lot. But that's the closest metaphor that I can think of that comes remotely close to describing God. One of the other things I've been learning is that God is so much greater than the metaphors we use to describe Him. But metaphors are all we have and we just have to realize that we can never really come close to seeing the true majesty of God this side of Heaven. We can come close, but our human understanding and vision is vastly limited. But the way I see it, limitations are part of our free will. Because we are stubborn, free-thinking creatures, we need limitations because they serve as a point of comparison. Our present suffering and limitations make us that much more appreciative of God and help us know Him more.
God is so infinitely beautiful. His mercy and grace are so amazingly precious. Think about it.