Mercy and Destiny

Religion

Have you ever considered how God’s mercy and destiny are connected?All through Scripture we see a pattern of God’s mercy being extended to an individual or to a nation because He has a divine purpose or destiny for that nation or individual. We see this pattern repeated during every period of history from Adam to the present day.

A clear example of this principle is Romans 9:10-12:

…When he (Abraham) married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins. But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes; he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger son.” (NLT)

Again in the New Testament we see this principle at work in our lives;

“For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 1:9 NLT)

So when we consider God’s mercy it’s important for us to see the bigger picture. When God extends His mercy it is directly attached to His foreknowledge and His divine plan for us. Why didn’t God just utterly destroy the Israelites when they continually erected shrines to foreign Gods? It was because of His mercy and its attachment to His plan for Israel.

When God extends mercy to us, it is because in God’s scheme of things, we are a player in His kingdom plans. I have to admit; I can’t fully explain or understand this attribute of God. But when I consider that in Christ I have been chosen to have mercy extended to me because God considers me to be a component in His kingdom plan, I am overwhelmed by His love and commitment to me.

He allowed me to be born into a committed Christian family, to hear the gospel at an early age and to live most all of my days walking with Him and serving Him. It’s all because of His mercy, a mercy that is attached to a plan He had for me.

Some of you reading this devotional didn’t have the privilege of being raised in a Christian home and were not exposed to the gospel until you were an adult. That makes God’s mercy even more amazing. That means that Jesus found you and then in His mercy pursued you, and then He called you to Himself in order to be a part of His kingdom plan.

Are we putting a low value on God’s mercy by not having a proper response to His love? That’s why we should take a close look at our lives, and examine our commitment to loving Him with all our heart, our mind and our soul. If we have a proper understanding of God’s mercy toward us, then we realize that God has chosen us to be a kingdom player. Mercy is more than God’s kindness and long-suffering, it is His clear indication that we are called, at this time in history, to fulfill our role in His kingdom.

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe…”(Ephesians 1:18-19 NAS)

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