Bible Reading: Jeremiah 5-6; 1 Timothy 1
Memory verse: “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry: Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.” 1 Timothy 1:12-13 (KJV)
There are so many characteristics and attributes of God that men ought to know and keep in their heart. Mercy is one of them. Mercy is a pardon for wrong done unknowingly. It is a pardon given to those who cannot see their errors. So many people are being held bound by errors done in time past and never knew.
God is not a man. His ways are higher than ours and His thoughts different from ours (Isaiah 55:8-9). He is merciful to us because of His love for man. His love for man makes Him come for us again and again even though He is a God of judgement. But His mercy overrules judgement that we deserve.
In the memory verse of the day, Paul expressed gratitude to God for giving him a place in ministry despite not being worthy based on what he had done. Nobody is worthy of anything from God; His purpose for creating us is what makes Him give us the opportunity to put the potentials in us into use to bring Him glory. For this to happen, mercy speaks on our behalf. Imagine if Paul had not been shown mercy, what would the new testament look like?
God is still the same. His mercies are new every day. There are so many Sauls out there who need to obtain mercy to become Paul and do mighty works in the kingdom of God. But they must first get to know Jesus and obtain mercy from Him. Make it a task today to share the good news about Jesus to someone and speak of His mercy.
Bro. Worthmore Aghanenu