Jesus is giving me a deeper understanding of mercy. Has anyone ever told you the difference between mercy & grace? Mercy is holding back from someone what they deserve. Grace is giving someone what they don't deserve.
As for grace, I love giving gifts--especially when it was the perfect thing AND bonus points if it was given on a day other than Christmas or birthday. :) So I feel like I have a decent grasp on grace, not only understanding how crazy-much grace Jesus has given me, but I also love giving grace to others through gifts and other acts of service!
Now, mercy is another story... I think this one is a little harder to grasp for me. This one means that even though someone deserves for me to be angry at them until they give a really good apology, I forgive them before they even say sorry. This means that even though they deserve a righteous punishment for what they put me through, I don't even consider punishing them. Uh...
And really, I haven't had to practice extending mercy all that much. I've never had too much trouble in my relationships. I can think of a few high school instances where people hurt me, but I think I more just forgot about it rather than forgave...So I don't have a whole lot of understanding of mercy. But Jesus is using my "situation" to show me more about this too! And lucky you, I'm passing it on again ;)
Jesus is so merciful! :) He doesn't hold it against us when we choose something other than Him. Sure, His heart is hurt that we didn't choose Him, but the second that we come back, He doesn't need a 3 page apology in order for Him to take us back. He doesn't know what it means to hold grudges. He is just so delighted to have His Beloved back!
Are you catching on yet to how much Jesus enjoys you? :) I hope so, because it is absolutely true! He adores your heart & devotion to Him! Better believe it!
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