Mercy on DisplaySýnishorn

“You rewrote my story

I will ever praise Your name

Hallelujah, Hallelujah”

MERCY - A REDEMPTION STORY

One of the beautiful realities of the Kingdom of God is discovered as we reflect on who God chooses to give mercy to. He doesn’t love the most lovable or honour the most talented. In fact, He chooses unlikely individuals to showcase his grace and mercy. Paul is brutally honest in his letter to the believers in Corinth when he reminds them of this truth. Not many of them were leading intellectuals or from the ruling elite, or the mega-rich. They, like us, were ordinary people, “the lowly…and the despised”. But God uses unimpressive and uninfluential people to introduce the supernatural reality of His Kingdom. God takes lives that are seemingly insignificant and uses them to reveal His presence and power to this world.

It’s counter-cultural. We’d expect God to choose celebrities, influencers, politicians, academics, CEOs, and entrepreneurs. But in the economy of the Kingdom, worldly power and success are of no consequence. God delights to use unlikely and unqualified individuals as ambassadors of His mercy. That’s us. He takes our story and weaves His redemption through our brokenness. He breathes the eternal into lives that seem small. He works His miracles through circumstances that look insignificant to the world.

Paul understood this in a profound way. He was a brilliant thinker, schooled in Greco-Roman thought and rhetoric, and also trained in theology by the leading Jewish scholar of the day. But he reminds the Corinthians that when he explained the good news of Jesus he had one goal - to make sure that the only impressive thing about him was the message of hope. He wanted them to experience the power of God’s Spirit, a personal and life-changing encounter with the mercy of the Cross. It’s still true today - our story is the most effective way to introduce others to the mercy of God.

God took the most ambitious and legalistic Jew alive and rewrote his story. Your story is no less significant - different, but equally inspiring. Do you see the threads of mercy in the middle of your daily life? Do you recognize the miracle of fresh hope and faith-filled purpose? God is all about ordinary lives being transformed by an extraordinary mercy. That’s the power of the Gospel.

1. What evidence do I see of God’s power and goodness in my life story?
2. How much do I praise God for the ways His mercy has already transformed my life?