Continuing the Riches theme, in Ephesians 2:4-5 “But God is rich in mercy because of his great love for us. We were dead because of our failures, but he made us alive together with Christ. (It is God’s kindness that saved you.)”
How would you describe the notion of Mercy?
A faithful Christian lady told the preacher on her death bed that she felt like two demons were always around her. She said that when she died she felt like those demons were going to escort her to hell. The preacher was disturbed and couldn't understand her terrors. That night he found Psalm 23:6: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
He came to her room the next day and said, "Those are not two demons but Mr. Surely Goodness and Mrs. Mercy, and when you die, they are going to escort you to heaven." She died later that day in peace.
Interestingly, Fred Buechner defines Justice and mercy as, “Justice is the grammar of things. Mercy is the poetry of things.'
It was Shakespeare in the Merchant of Venice who wrote.
The quality of mercy is not strain’d;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
’Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway,
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s
When mercy seasons justice.
Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself. Amen.
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