Day by Day

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"The Blessing of Mercy"

Matthew 5:7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."

"It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35). Jesus lived and died by that truth. He "gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age" (Galatians 1:4). "In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope" (1 Peter 1:3).

Mercy is love expressed. When Christians practice mercy, they place the needs of others above their own, in much the same way that Jesus placed our need for forgiveness and salvation first, allowing Himself to be insulted, abused, and finally crucified in order to procure that salvation for us. God so loved that He gave. Calvary is the proof of God's mercy.

To be merciful is to act out of love and compassion for others, to try to see with their eyes, think with their minds, and feel with their hearts. God's Son did just that when He took on human flesh and blood to experience life's struggles just as we do, though without sin. He offered His life in our place as the substitutionary sacrifice for our sins.

As we display mercy in Christ's name, we become more like our Lord. By His grace we will obtain the ultimate mercy: entrance into God's heavenly sanctuary, to abide with Him forever.

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"Hands Lifted in Blessing"

Luke 24:50 "He lifted up His hands and blessed them."

The last glimpse the disciples had of Jesus was at His ascension as He was lifting His hands over them in blessing. This last look left a deep impression on their hearts and minds all their life. So they were to remember their Lord.

Jesus still holds His hands of blessing over all of His disciples. The hands raised in blessing bear the marks of the price He paid to bless His own. The nailprints tell the story of His great love.

Jesus blesses His own in every circumstance of life, when they walk in the valley of affliction or rejoice on the hilltops of prosperity. They know He not only wishes them every good but with His blessing gives them every good.

Oh, the glory of it all! He blesses us, our homes, our children, our labors, our rest, our pleasures, our years, our trials, our sorrows, our dying. He blesses us, but not because we deserve it. The very essence of all that is contained in the word blessing is love, mercy, and grace. We know that without His blessing life is not really living. With it, goodness and mercy must follow us all the days of our life.

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"God Picks up the Broken Pieces"

Psalm 41:4 "I said, 'O Lord, have mercy on me; heal me, for I have sinned against You.'"

During World War II a bomb scored an indirect hit and shattered the beautiful stained-glass rose window in the Rheims Cathedral. The members of the congregation got down on their hands and knees and picked up all the small glass fragments of the window.

After the war, they hired some of the most skilled workmen available to rebuild the window, fragment by fragment, from the pieces they had saved. Today, the rose window in the Rheims Cathedral is more beautiful than ever before.

God can take our broken hearts and our shattered dreams and reshape them into a life that is holy and beautiful.

Does God, who loved us enough to send His Son to die for us, not also care for us in the daily things of our lives? It is precisely Christ's death and resurrection that, like a magnet, draw all the sin-smashed pieces of our lives into a whole new way of living. Jesus promised us: "I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself" (John 12:32). In drawing us to Himself, He heals us and makes us whole.

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"Hard Things"

Psalm 60:3 "You have shown Your people desperate times; You have given us wine that makes us stagger."

The psalmist is frank in his approach to God. Like the patriarch Job, he lets his feelings be known. He affirms that God has shown His people hard things. The pious wish of many, namely, that those who have found in Jesus and His atoning sacrifice the happy solution to the problem of sin may expect life to be an undisturbed journey, has no foundation in God's revealed Word.

There are, indeed, hard things in life. In the lives of God's children they are often more easily identified. Christians may feel that as God's people they are entitled to preferential treatment. But for reasons rooted in His wisdom and goodness God does not follow that course. Faith does not thrive on ease but on "hard things." They teach us that, instead of removing difficulty, God draws us to Himself by assuring us that He is an "ever-present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1).

The tests of life are to make, not break, us. Hard things may demolish a business or deprive one of material security, but in Christ they build up reliance on God. If God designs or permits hard things, close at hand are His counsel and His sustaining hand of love.

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"Victory"

Jude 14 "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of His holy ones."

You may not think that there are many genuine saints in this world, but there are many of them in heaven who also once lived in this world. What is more, they form a great "multitude that no one could count" (Revelation 7:9). "Thousands upon thousands" is just a symbolic way of saying "a very great many." They are all the saints.

These, says John in Revelation, have come "out of the great tribulation" (Revelation 7:14). Nobody need tell us that. There is much trouble in the world, and some of us have had more than our share. The most vicious part of it is that it tends to make us bitter and causes us to lose our faith so that we "curse God and die" (Job 2:9). Therefore the book of Revelation keeps telling about those who have "overcome." Overcome what? Clearly they have overcome the temptation to let injustice, cruelty, and suffering turn one against God. If you can hang on to the great fact of God's love in Christ in view of that, you are an overcomer.

Almost unbelievable glories are promised to the faithful, but they all come down to this: We shall participate in Christ's victory over death and have eternal life.

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"Someone Who Understands"

Hebrews 4:15 "We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses."

Have you ever tried to explain your troubles to someone who just could not understand? Perhaps you tried to describe a pain to your doctor and felt that he or she did not begin to realize how bad it really was. It is disheartening to think that no one is sympathetic.

How wonderful to know that there is someone who understands fully just what our needs and troubles are! Jesus, our High Priest, is able to sympathize with us because He has experienced our weaknesses. Since He had human flesh and blood, Jesus felt the needs of the body just as we do. He was hungry after He had been in the desert 40 days without food. He felt loneliness when His disciples deserted Him. He felt the hatred and envy of His enemies. He knew poverty and had no home of His own. He knew horrible pain of the type inflicted on Him during the time of His trial and crucifixion. He knew what it was to face death.

It is good to know that this Lord Jesus, who was in every respect tempted as we are, invites us to bring our needs to the throne of His grace. We are urged to come "with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" (Hebrews 4:16). Jesus is a sympathetic friend who always understands.

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"We Have a Lord Who Cares for Us"

John 11:33, 35 "When Jesus saw her weeping ... He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled ... Jesus wept."

Many Scripture passages describe God as a majestic ruler and all-powerful judge. We may wonder who can stand in His presence when at the end of time we find ourselves before His glorious throne and see Him as our judge. Before His glory, brighter than a million suns, and before His majesty, more magnificent than all the combined kingdoms of this world, who indeed can stand? And yet, we know that we have a Lord who cares for us.

We know this because Christ, the eternal Son of the eternal Father, is the same Jesus of Nazareth who walked our dreary planet, full of mercy and compassion. He saw the misery and the agony of our world, and His heart was moved to pity. He cared.

His heart is filled with pity still, and His pity is real. Into our lives may come pain and anguish, heartbreak and despair. Our world has a tendency quickly to pass us by should we wish to pause and weep. Our world's mercy and compassion is often a shallow and fleeting mist, and we are left alone.

But we have a Lord who cares. He has a heart that is touched and moved by our tears. And He acts in His mercy. He invites our cares and our troubles. He was able, fully and victoriously, to bear our sins. Just as fully, just as victoriously He can and will bear our griefs.

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"The Sentinel at the Door"

Philippians 4:7 "And the peace of God ... will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Unfortunately, much of the talk about peace today has nothing to do with the peace of which Paul speaks. He is not referring to the spurious peace that makes daily headlines, nor was he even speaking about the peace that should exist between brothers.

He is speaking, rather, about the peace that exists between God and the forgiven sinner -- the peace of reconciliation, the peace of which the angels spoke above the fields of Bethlehem, the peace about which we sing: "Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled." It is a peace that Paul admits cannot be described: it "transcends all understanding."

What does Paul say about that peace? Literally, he says that "the peace of God shall stand guard over our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." It will not permit the troubles of this world to overcome us. Like an armed sentinel, God's peace will guard our hearts through faith in Christ. Fear, anxiety, and distress may seek to overwhelm us, but the peace of God, standing guard over our heart, will prevail. The peace of which the hymn writer wrote will always reassure us: "This child of God shall meet no harm."

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"Prescription for Worries"

Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything ... present your requests to God. And the peace of God ... will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

What the apostle is doing here in effect is writing a prescription for one of our commonest ailments: worry. It's a remedy God recommends in Scripture in dozens of places. It's really effective, but so often we just don't use it -- we don't even try.

"In everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God" (Philippians 4:6), this prescription of the apostle reads. Now notice how it goes on -- words that many of us have heard again and again -- "and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:7).

What a promise! The peace of God, which Jesus gained when He took our place under God's justice and reconciled us with His Father, will keep (the word really means to stand guard like a sentinel or body guard) our heart and mind safe and serene.

That promise still stands. It has never been revoked. The power of prayer has not been diminished. It is still the key that unlocks God's omnipotence and brings it to bear on the burdened, anxious hearts of His praying children.

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"Pressed but not Crushed"

2 Corinthians 4:8 "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair."

Often the little irritations of daily living get us down. The hum-drum, ho-hum routine of life gets to us. There are the little irritations of daily life due to leaky faucets, bumper-to-bumper traffic and dented fenders, and long lines at the supermarket or at the bank.

There are big problems also: illness, loss of a job, and the death of a loved one. But we have hope. God's golden Gospel can give our life a lift. God's love lifts us up when we are down and out. We are pressed, but not crushed. Listen to what Saint Paul says in the above text: "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed" (2 Corinthians 4:8-9).

We have a God who loves us in Christ Jesus. Jesus, crushed and broken on the cross, spilled His blood to earn for us the gift of forgiveness and the assurance of eternal salvation. The Gospel is power packed. By God's power we are kept safe and are strengthened for every encounter.

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"Courage"

1 Corinthians 16:13-14 "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love.

It takes a great deal of courage to live as a Christian in our modern world. There are so many powers at war against the life with Christ that all of us daily need His wisdom, His power, and His guidance. We need the quiet, steady courage that He alone can give through the assurance of the forgiveness of our sins.

Our Savior knew that very clearly. For that reason the entire Bible is a book of love and sympathy and courage. Its pages are full of cheer for those who are weary in heart. It brings new hope to the disappointed, the defeated, to those who have failed, to those who have crushed and broken lives. The voice of our Savior in His word, "Take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33), will fall over the world as the sound of courage from heaven -- a courage we can never have of ourselves.

And the greatest thing of all is that this courage always comes to those who need it most. When Saint Paul was discouraged, our Savior said to him: "My power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). Before He can put His strength into us, we must know that we have no strength of our own. But when we confess that, humbly and penitently, then His courage comes to us full and brave, and the treasures of His grace make us strong and unafraid.

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"Who's in Charge Here?"

Psalm 24:1 "The earth is the Lord's."

A cartoon showed a keeper in a cage full of monkeys. The mischievous creatures had taken the keeper's cap, keys, broom, and pail of food, then left him standing in stunned silence. Outside the cage an onlooker asked, "Who's in charge here?"

Perhaps that scene is the way our daily life sometimes appears to us. Things have gotten out of control. We have set out to control life, and it has turned on us. We feel threatened, anxious, inadequate to cope with even the simplest events. We have been tricked, and we resent it.

Sense will return to life when we learn that "the earth is the Lord's." Jesus' mission was to teach us what that means. He inverted our entire relation to life and the world around us. He freed us to trust our heavenly Father and to live under His order. Suddenly the world opens up to us when we discover that God really is in charge here and His good will is going to prevail. Life is not a cruel trick. Our Lord has overcome the great deceiver, Satan. Jesus said that we might have peace of heart and mind: "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).

Purpose and order return when we recognize God's will in Jesus and let His will be done through us.

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"Help at the Right Time"

Romans 5:6 "At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly."

When a fireman rescues an aged man from the ledge of his old burning hotel; when a lifeguard pulls a drowning youth from the swimming pool and gives mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, restoring breath to the unconscious lad; or when a lumberjack pushes a man out of the way of a falling log, we join in thoughts of thanksgiving for the rescued ones. We hope someone will be around to help us in similar situations.

Our Lord Jesus Christ did not wait for us to get ourselves into a safe or comfortable position before He came to an easy rescue. He saw us as we were -- utterly helpless in sin. He came to give us a new life. That's mercy! That's courage! That's the undeserved grace of God!

Our Lord does not forsake us in the problems and messes we create or others impose on us. As in love He once gave Himself to restore us to unity with our heavenly Father through the forgiveness of sins, so He will be with us in love today and tomorrow. We rejoice in God, who shows His love for us, even when we fail to recognize His hand at work behind the scenes of life. He gives help to the weak and helpless.

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"Use Trouble for Good"

Psalm 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble."

Trouble is the most democratic thing in the world. It snubs no one. It's everyone's shadow. Job said people are "born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward" (Job 5:7). Every person born to this world experiences a bundle of trouble.

Trouble can send us into emotional wheel-spinning through worry. This makes things worse. Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow; it always saps today of its strength. Brooding over troubles means hatching despair.

God wants us to believe that some good can result from trouble. Troubles never come alone; God, although not the author of evil, always comes with them. We ask God to help us live with the trouble until we have learned the intended lesson and He takes it away.

God wants to help us in our trouble -- of that we can be sure. We know His love for us in Christ Jesus. He knows how to help us in our troubles, through our troubles, and out of our troubles. In this way our troubles turn into triumph. Instead of getting us down, they lift us up, for whatever drives us to God in prayer, in trust, and in confidence always brings victory in due time.

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"Never Down and Out"

Romans 8:37 "We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."

Time and time again we hear the refrain, "We shall overcome." If anyone can say these words with the greatest of confidence, it is the Christian. His confidence does not rest in himself but in the power that God supplies.

True, the Christian daily battles his own sinful nature. Fears, temptations, envy, hatred, pride, loneliness, sorrow, failures, and frustration cause him at times to cry out, "Nobody knows all the trouble I've seen." Clinging to God's promises, the Christian experiences in his own life God's promise: "We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."

A Christian whose life seemed to be filled with more than her share of trouble said one day: "I have changed my disappointments to His appointments." She knew that God knew what was happening. In the end, the trying things that came her way always worked out for her own good. She received a stronger faith, a deeper understanding of God's way with His children, a clearer insight into the things that really count, and new strength to face her tomorrows. She had learned to "sing in the rain" -- even when it poured. What has been our experience?