Steve-o's Devos: Mercy Me

In the midst of a rather humid and warm Sunday morning, I glanced at the bulletin which listed the hymns we would be singing that day. One of them caught my eye, mostly because I misread the title. The title of the hymn actually was, "There is a Wideness in God's Mercy." This is an old hymn from the 19th century that sort of outlines the ways God is present in our lives and how forgiving God can be.

What my eye, and perhaps mind, saw/thought it saw, was this title: "There is a Wildness in God's Mercy." Now that made me take time to stop and think about how I deliver my own version of mercy and grace in my own walk with God. Perhaps you can think about that a bit this week as well. Because even though we are at heart good people, sometimes we bump into folks who just rub us the wrong way. In the midst of the intense heat we are experiencing this week, it does not take much to set us off as humans. Tempers seem to flare with the sun and when everything cools off we all find ourselves regretting something we may have done or said. That is where mercy comes in I think.

While the hymn does take into account the many ways God can be compassionate or forgiving to us, even when we don't deserve it, I kind of think there is a bit of wildness to God's mercy when it happens to people we don't think should get a little of that compassion. I would be willing to bet most of us can think of 5 people who we do not believe could ever receive God's mercy. If we are honest, our list might be longer than what we need to buy at the grocery store.

Therein lies the power of God made possible through Jesus. Jesus' life and ministry emphasizes constantly that God comes to us. The people who may have been tossed out of other relationships, people for whom a little grace is near impossible to receive from others. It is a little crazy, a little wild, this mercy that God grants so freely.

When having those conversations with children about who is in heaven, we all have made it out to be a place populated by the likes of us. God's mercy is a bit greater than that, a bit wilder and a bit wider. It encompasses and includes far more people than we can imagine...Thank God!