Mercy........

PSA 51:1 NIV

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.

There's no place for self-glory when it comes to walking with God. There's no place for human effort or labour when it comes to the free gifts of God. If we had to work for the salvation and redemption we now have, I wonder what we would have to do to fully repay God for all his gifts and benefits. Gratefully, we do not have to do anything except rely on the finished work of Christ on the cross for us.

Today's extract further buttresses our helplessness and the futility of human striving when it comes to pleasing God. We cannot lay claim to any human perfection and we cannot pay the price by ourselves. God's mercy then Becomes Very important in our walk with Him, because everything we would ever be or do is tied to his mercy. It is his mercy that brings forgiveness, it is his mercy that gives redemption and a new beginning. It is his mercy that also guarantees eternal life, when this present one would have ended. Am I still relying on my power to make it? Am I still striving hard in my own power to please God, thinking that I can do anything to merit God's mercy?

As I go out today, my prayer is that the mercy of God will be available to give me a fresh start and a new, clean stand with God. I pray that I will always enjoy his favour and grace, so that my life will be a reflection of what God can do with a life that relies solely and totally on God, not on human effort or achievements. His time of favour is here.