I reasonatly heard a story that described mercy.
An innocent boy was brutally killed. The father of this boy, had 3 choices. 1) He could eighter kill the man that killed his daughter, and that would have been revenge. 2) He could have let the authorities judge the man and sentence him for a long punishment, and that would have been justice. 3) He could have forgiven the man, and neglected giving the man over to the police, and instead adopt him into his family, and let the man take the place in the family that was ment for his son. That is mercy.
Mercy is the tool of God to reach his people, the humans, that means you! Men sinned against God and made it impossible for humans to get to heaven. The first people that sinned, was Adam and Eve. Unfortunately, it didn't stop with them. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" the Bible teaches in Rom 3,23. You might wonder what sin is. It is when we lie, gossip, desire, swear and break one or more of the ten commandments of god. Every man in history has done so, and is therefore called a sinner, and is in desperat need of help to avoid hell. Luckily God had a plan of rescue for us. We were headed against the abrupt and down the mountain, but God, as the good Father he is, he knew what to do. A sacrify was needed, and God said in Genesis that " from the genus of Eve, I will raise up a man that can crush the head of the snake!" In the old testament, a lot of places, there was vaticinated that "ransom" would be sent to pay the "dept" we owe because of our sins.
Approximately 2000 years ago, theese "money" came to earth, the person Jesus, fully the son of God. We, the humans, killed the son of the father in the history above, Jesus Christ, because our "nature is evil". God could have taken revenge, and extinguished the humanity, or he could judge us all for acts we do and have done, or he could forgive us and adopt us into his family and erase all of our sins.
In heaven, where God is, it is holy, and God is holy. He is without mistakes, he is perfect and therefore can no sinner enter the gates of heaven. We are dirty as a consequence of the sins we do. We have to be cleansed, if we want to come to heaven the day we die (I do honestly believe that everyone is convinsed that humans die). I do also honestly belive that no one wants to go to hell, when they can be saved from the "abrupt". In the history at the top, the father showed mercy if he forgave the sin, and adopted the "sinner" into his family. That is what God did, does and will do for us if we want his gift. Mercy means "for free" and "undeserved". It is given from God to everyone that lives in faith, and that believes in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. The faith you can live in and set your trust to, is a gift from God. The Bibel talks about "the Faith of Jesus". Believing is seeing, and this gift can be yours if you want to receive it. God so loved us, that he gave his only son(John 3,16). Jesus blod was shed for us, to cleans everyone that believes, and the believe is a gift he gives the one that receive him as their personal saviour.
To get this believe, you can do as much acts as you possibly has a capasity to do, but it won't give it to you. The Bible teaches that we have to be born again, an expression far to often forgotten in the churches. We have "wandered in the dark", and as a consequence, our flesh is headed to hell. Only option we have to escape, is to suit us in Jesus. He is the only man that has lived perfectly and was worthy to pay the price of our sins. He won over Satan and through the blood he shed for us, we can be free from all sicknesses, and bonds from the Devil and best of all, we can be free from our sins. When we give our lives to Jesus, and let his will be the will we obey, he will be your father. You get adopted into his family and will one day inherit the
The moment you accept Jesus as your Saviour and give your life to him, "your letter of guilt is being erased!" So thats it, you might think. That's not so, because we sin ,even after getting to know Jesus. That is why we are constantly in the need of a Saviour, and that is Jesus Christ. By living in him, we are on the way to heaven! Jesus will help you to live with and "in" him, even though we don't deserve it. Because of the fact that he loves his creations, that is you and me, he shows us mercy. He gives the gift faith, for free, and will keep you close to him so that you can be cleansed every day from your sins, as long as you want to follow him!
If you know now in your heart, that you aren't headed against heaven, it is time to do someting with it. Talk to God, and ask him to open your eyes so that you can see. He will then do it, cos he longs after you and is waiting for you. Then you must give your life to the Saviour, and turn around from every act that is against the will of God, you need to be born again to live with and for Jesus with Him as your Lord. No matter how much wrong you've done and how helpless you feel, Jesus will do as the Father in the history, and adopt you into his family and forgive you!
Any questions? I'm happy to try to help you. Erik Fjelland Moi
erik_moi87@hotmail.com
