Not by Merit, But by Mercy
Romans 11:32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all. (ESV)
Very soon we’ll be celebrating Christmas: remembering how God became one of us, Jesus, to save us from our sin and the eternal punishment we deserve. But why? Why did He need to do that in the first place?
I mean, why didn’t God just create us with the capacity to love Him, to honour Him and to do right if we choose to do so. Wouldn’t that have been simpler? Wouldn’t that have been cleaner?
Then those who chose to do good and to honour Him would go to heaven … as they should. And those who chose to live their lives against Him, sure, would go to hell … but that’s just, right?
What could have been simpler than that?
And yet, somehow we seem incapable of choosing to live a good life, a perfect life. We all sin. You only need to look as far as your own mirror to come to that conclusion. So why, oh why, did God set things up that way, have you ever wondered? Well … here’s why.
Romans 11:32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all. (ESV)
There you have it. God did indeed set it up that way. He consigned us all to disobedience. Why? So that He may have mercy on all. So that we could know how great His love truly is.
There’s no greater love than to forgive someone to for their wrongs. There’s no greater love than to take the punishment they deserve for hurting you. There’s no greater love than to die for their sins.
That’s why God consigned us all to disobedience, so that he could show us His mercy.
And that’s His Word. Fresh … for you … today.