Much of the time, we as Christians recognize the extraordinary gift that we’ve received in God’s mercy, and it inspires good works of faithful service and thankful worship to God. But when we are guilty of scorning God’s mercy, we are prone to see God’s work not as mercy, but as opposition from Him. This frequently leads to discontentment and anger with God because He won’t give us our way. But God’s mercy while sometimes difficult to stomach is always good for us. Sometimes God’s mercy is parents correcting our behavior through discipline, a boss writing up our misdeed, or another church member confronting apparent sins in our lives. All of these are examples of God’s good mercy because they drive us away from sin when if left to ourselves we’d pursue it to our death. Rejoice in God’s mercies, not just the obviously good ones (like food and shelter), but the sometimes difficult ones too (like correction); it is the discipline of a loving heavenly Father guiding you to what He saved you for. Read More

God made promises to Abraham, but He didn’t always make the path clear. God didn’t tell Abraham where to go until he got there, and He didn’t tell him how he would be a great nation. But Abraham trusted anyway. Abraham left his home and wandered around Canaan waiting for God to tell him where to stop. He stayed in Canaan with Lot waiting for God to make him into a great nation even though he didn’t have a son. Sometimes believing God’s promises means waiting 400 years and letting your children receive the blessing, but believing God’s promises always has its reward. Abraham believed God, and God justified him. The same is true for us. We may not always see the promises fulfilled like we want or when we want, but God cannot lie, and He is always faithful. Read More

The promise that God would give a child to Israel may not have sounded all that great at first. Perhaps the people thought, “A child? Don’t we have enough of those running around? We don’t need another child we need a deliverer!” But it was in that Child that deliverance came. That Child is unlike any other child. He is the source of wisdom, the power of God, the creator of the universe, and the establisher of peace in the flesh. He is God Himself, in the flesh. And that means that His reign will be unlike any other too, unending, peaceful, just, righteous, established by God. We hear that, and we say, “I’ll take that Child!” Christmas is the downpayment on that Child’s kingdom. Jesus’s birth in that stable in Bethlehem is what gives us confidence that He will one day sit on a throne in Jerusalem. Christmas points us to that day when He will return in power and majesty and set up that reign, and so we echo the prophets, “Come, again, soon Lord Jesus!" Read More