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A few good discussions have come up recently in a couple of different contexts, all revolving around the idea of mercy and grace for all.
First off, let me say everyone has a different calling, a different gift. Some people are very empathetic, compassionate, they are all about reflecting the mercy and grace of Christ. That’s awesome and wonderful, the body is composed of many parts. Mercy, compassion, those are wonderful gifts and much-needed in the world. We should all be reflecting that in some way, because forgiveness, grace, and redemption, are really the heart and soul of faith. If you’re going to err, it’s probably better to err on the side of grace.
Those who are really skilled at grace remind me of the little old lady who had a house of ill repute move into the neighborhood…… so she did the neighborly thing and baked them a pie. I love that story because in the process she built a relationship and began sharing her faith. “Always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is in you.”
There are also some people like me who suffer from survivor’s guilt, or those who worry about loved ones who have passed on without ever knowing Jesus Christ. We often get lost in rabbit holes, chasing theology ’round and round, trying to reconcile the mercy of God with the judgment of God.
From experience I can tell you it really all just boils down to trust. We can make ourselves crazy trying to second guess God, trying to find a loophole, trying to make sure He knows what He’s doing. That’s what those fears and worries are all about, an unwillingness to trust in Him. Sometimes we have a hard time understanding that as much as we love people, He loves them even more. As much as we believe we know what should happen, He knows even better. As much as we care, God cares more. We can needlessly torment ourselves over what basically amounts to trust. It can be a real power struggle sometimes.
We say, “show me God and I’ll trust you,” and God says, “trust me and I’ll show you.” He will calm your fears, He will guide you to the answers you seek, if you trust in Him and let Him show you.
That’s what I know about mercy and grace, that’s a good part of who I am, a neighborhood pie lady who often argues theology with God Himself.
Where I live the Unitarian church is very popular, people who are all about mercy for all, so much grace, that grace is available to everyone and knowing Jesus Christ isn’t even necessary. Unitarians “welcome all persons who seek to deepen the life of the spirit.” I hear you, that’s all good, but what spirit are we speaking of here? Not all spirits are desirable! I wish to deepen the life of my spirit of envy for example. Greed? Lust? Gluttony? There’s a funny joke about being spiritual, as in “you’re going to need to be more specific about what “spiritual” means, because even demons can be spiritual.”
For some reason God has really dropped me on my head, taken me out of my element and started speaking to me much more loudly about judgment and justice, and about the dangers of moral relativism and moral ambiguity. I’ve become much less tolerant, more discerning, more rooted and unmoving within The Word. It’s really opened my eyes to some things, to the harm we can do under the guise of compassion, to the immorality that can spring forth from refusing to stand for anything.
It’s interesting, in this land of universalists, something that has always bugged me is people’s tendency to say things like, “it takes two to tango” or “we need to be fair to everyone.” While that may well be true in many situations, there is another part to the equation, too. Wrong is still wrong. Right is still right. We can commit an injustice when we try to treat all people as equals in any given situation.
Sometimes just flat-out wrong is just plain wrong and when we fail to stand up for that truth we do the whole world a real disservice. There can be no mercy without justice. One hinges upon the other.
See, there's this thing called biology... 
You go IB! I believe the Lord is fine tuning His believers for the coming years. He is teaching us to recognize wrong and providing the strength to stand against it. Thank you for these thoughts!
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Thanks Andy, that’s much appreciated. 🙂
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I am finding IB that as the days progress, the family of Believers is circling the wagons so to speak…discernment is becoming clearer, observation more keen, knowledge more heightened…as the sheep and goats are being separated…we see more, knowing more…that is a good thing but also a painful thing..but Truth is Truth—no getting around that…and you my friend are gifted keenly with knowing that Truth and speaking that Truth…regardless of what may come….
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Circling the wagons, that’s a great way to put it. I sure do see some refining going on, people seeking the meat and potatoes of faith, that foundation. We can’t all go free falling through the universe, that’s way too disconcerting. 🙂
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As well as messy 😉
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I still believe we are to have mercy and grace for all. It is not our job to judge – only His. That does not mean we accept or condone, but when we show compassion, as Jesus did, we lead people toward Him rather than block the way. As James said, “For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” (James 2:13)
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It’s tough,isn’t it? I hear the distress in some people’s voices sometimes,the fear of judging or being judged. I think we often forget to balance that out with 1 Corinthians 6:3, “Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?”
So fear of judging or being judged usually leads us back to the cross. We are all guilty,we are all judged, but we have an Advocate, a Redeemer. If we do not judge ourselves, others, than we really have no need of redemption, which then pulls us away from Christ.
So, sometimes people get cranky with me, I criticize those red pills,I point to the flaws in their theology, and I judge the way they treat others. We must. To simply remain silent and extend mercy to those who engage in outright evil is neither justice nor mercy. It is the silence of complicity. So yes, pray for people, point them to the cross, believe anything is possible, but darn it all, sometimes Christians can get so open minded and merciful we fail to extend anything akin to justice in this world, to those who are actually being hurt. To tell people, “just pray for those who persecute you,” without ever addressing the wrongheaded behavior of those who harm others is a travesty of both justice and mercy.
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I agree with you to a point, IB, but I see too many Christians taking judging too far. They co-opt the job of God without invoking any mercy. And we must never remain silent in the face of injustice.
Yet, we will judge the angels after we have died and been resurrected – not in this life. “If we do not judge ourselves, others, than we really have no need of redemption.” The thing is, we have already been redeemed. We have already received the grace of God. There is nothing else we must do. God has not asked us to judge; only to be His light and to make disciples – that is, followers of Christ. To extend the invitation, to “reconcile the world to Him, not count people’s sins against them.” (2 Corinthians 5:4-20).
We must continually judge ourselves, look at ourselves in the mirror, for that is what brings us closer to God. Being judge and jury, I believe, will not.
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I agree with you, but the thing is, when you say there are too many judgemental Christians, you are judging. That’s kind of what we’re called to do, too pay attention to these things. I believe there are too many unkind Christians, too many unwilling to extend grace to others, but too few actually discerning.
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True, I’ll accept that. And I agree with your last statement. We do need to discern more. I simply never want to cross over the line myself and stand as a barrier to anyone coming to Christ. I would always rather err on the side of grace and mercy.
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I agree Susan and I would like to add that there is a difference between judging the rightness or wrongness of a person’s behavior and judging the worthiness/condition of a person’s soul. We can’t gently restore one another (Galatians 6:1) if we aren’t willing to call sin, sin. Gently because it’s God’s kindness that leads to repentance.
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While I agree with the first part, Julie, I simply have a basic disagreement on our job as followers of Jesus.
Maybe it just comes down to our bestowed Spiritual gifts. I am certain I am not bestowed with the gift of judging another person’s sin. Have there been times when I have, in private, gently exhorted a friend in love because I have seen her going the wrong direction? Yes. But I will never judge the behavior of a group of people because I do not know the individuals personally. I do not know the story of an individual nor have I taken the time to hold a hand or break bread with someone.
In my eyes, Jesus always loved first, showed compassion and mercy first, which then gave a person the desire to know Him, to open their eyes to their own sin and to repent of their own volition.
Those are the gifts I have received – love, compassion, mercy and grace. That is the path I prefer to follow.
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“That is the path I prefer to follow.”
Yes, absolutely. I know many people who are really called to mercy, who are just gifted with the ability to reflect grace. Work within how we are called, by all means. Let God light the path for you. 🙂
The problem is, there are others who are afraid of judgment, afraid to stand for anything, afraid to put their foot down and name evil for what it is. I did that for a long time, I stayed silent so as not to rock the boat. I even kept my faith to myself so as to not offend anyone.
In the end what I discovered was that I was more interested in gaining the favor of people than the favor of God. And that fear of judging others, was really my own fear of being judged or put down or attacked. It left me vulnerable, weak, and easily silenced. So after some work, laying that all down at the foot of the cross, I came to not fear other people’s opinions at all, nor to fear God’s judgment either, should I ever get it wrong.
Something that often happens in the world, those of us who are the most empathetic, compassionate, merciful, the most qualified to take a stand against things that are wrong, often are silent. And the hot heads who wouldn’t know grace if it bit them on the behind, they become the loudest voices.
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So true, IB, so true. 🙂
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“Have there been times when I have, in private, gently exhorted a friend in love because I have seen her going the wrong direction?” That’s all I was talking about – having the courage to help a friend. Convicting the world of sin (and even an individual) is the Holy Spirit’s job.
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I appreciate your comments about mercy and justice. I will be pondering this all day
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Thank you. Glad I offered you something to ponder.
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You do, often. I just don’t always talk 🙂
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Indeed TRUST is something many people struggle with – especially when it comes to God. The religious tend to complicate (and often invalidate) the whole matter. False beliefs influence our approach to trust, instilling a concept that even though GRACE is completely initiated and perpetually maintained by God, we must still do something to ‘qualify’ to receive it. Few of us cross the line – letting go of ALL assumed restrictions – into absolute TRUST. An ungodly transfer from trust in God to trusting my own ability to please God, confounds GRACE in favor of works, which are always unreliable and cannot be trusted.
Frequently, this is due to a lack of proper comprehension about terminology. Yet when God has provided His revelation, it also provides insight into TRUST. Your statement – “trying to reconcile the mercy of God with the judgment of God” is an example of such. As is too often the case, many confuse ‘judgment’ and ‘wrath’.
Scripture teaches that one gift of God is free-will. He has placed options before us which are ‘given’ to us – ours to decide – life or death, good or evil, right or wrong, etc. His ‘judgment’ is that ALL of us have been already concluded GUILTY. His grace provides a gift of salvation, but it is an exercise of our free-will to choose it or reject it.
Either way, God’s judgment has ALREADY been made. Whether a person enters eternal life by choosing to accept His gift of salvation through grace, or rejects it and perishes under God’s predetermined penalty (WRATH). The ‘judgment’ of God was concluded centuries past, when man first rejected God’s instruction, and substituted his own choice. It is NOT an issue of ‘if’ we will be judged; all of us ALREADY have been. The ONLY issue to be determined (yet God already knows) is if we choose to accept grace or reject it and remain under WRATH.
But those who have accepted GRACE, along with it God has also given them the supernatural assurance that they have been transformed from death to life. Mercy was ‘conceived’ by God in His promise to provide a Savior; it was ‘instituted’ at the cross. Those BEFORE came under GRACE by trusting God’s promise WOULD be fulfilled. Those AFTER come under the SAME GRACE by trusting that Christ is that fulfilled promise. Both are matters of TRUST.
What few people comprehend is that ABSOLUTES exist – empirically. There is NO real TRUTH unless it is absolute. No TRUST is sufficient unless it also is absolute. If ‘belief’ is NOT a perpetually abiding conviction of absolute TRUST in TRUTH, it is merely an opinion based upon potentially shifting sentiments.
As you’ve boldly stated, “Wrong is still wrong. Right is still right. We can commit an injustice when we try to treat all people as equals in any given situation” – Really being FAIR is reminding EVERYONE that there is a way that seems ‘right’ to a man, but it ends in death. Funny how the same people who preach universal tolerance are the first to cry foul when they feel no one warned them about the cost of tolerating evil.
Kudos to your astute conclusion – “Sometimes just flat-out wrong is just plain wrong and when we fail to stand up for that truth we do the whole world a real disservice. There can be no mercy without justice. One hinges upon the other” – well done!
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Thank you for those words, they are much appreciated. It’s nice to know there are people in the world who understand and who can see some of the same truths reveal themselves within scripture.
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I’ve observed “spirituality” up close for the past year or two and I have concluded that “seeking to deepen the spirit” is fine and dandy and lovely when all is well. But when hot rubber meets a rough road, all hell breaks loose. It’s an adornment for a healthy body but not a cure for the sick. It’s settling for a powdered wig upon filthy hair when a freshly shampooed head feels soo much better. It’s the application of the Truth, not a vague spirituality, that makes one a healthy, clean, non-itchy, pleasing aroma. Everything else is just perfume and powder and clean clothes on a dead body. No offense.
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Well said! That’s an awesome point. When the poo really hits the fan, we often discover how deeply rooted our spirituality and faith really is. If it’s vague and nebulous, it’s going to blow away.
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I fully agree with you, but I don’t understand why your final sentence was = “No offense.” Sadly, anyone who felt any ‘abrasion’ from what you shared is likely to be offended anyway. The truth often hurts, especially when we stubbornly reject it.
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The “no offense” was solely for IB’s amusement.
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