Grateful Hearts and God's Great Mercy

 Have you ever tried to really wrap your mind around something unfathomable? Like in '07, a man ran into an Amish schoolhouse and shot 10 young girls, killing five, before turning the gun on himself. Human nature tells us to seek justice, which his death already served, and that those who commit injustice need to be punished. C. S. Lewis said the easiest way to know mankind is bent towards a universal morality, is to do something to someone who claims there are no objective right/wrong judgments. His assessment (and rightly so!), was that they would tell you that what you did was not right, or was unfair. That sense of justice, a right and wrong that exists, is universal- even among those who claim everything is relative. In that Amish community in Pennsylvania, losing those young ladies left a huge mark and much trauma, but early on, they made waves when they forgave in the midst of it. Some even going so far as to go to the shooter's burial service and gather money for the widow of the shooter to help her! That boggles modern man's understanding. There were countless news stories about the shooting and the Amish forgiveness, even books published about it. 

It's fairly unfathomable to me, a father of 9, to think about forgiving someone who brought me that degree of pain. As a guy who follows Jesus and knows what Jesus says about forgiveness, that's still something I don't know if I could ever do. In full transparency, hurt one of my kids and you're more likely to experience being beaten to death with one of your own limbs that I rip off to beat you with than for me to offer forgiveness. It's not exactly what I want to go for, but it's more true than not. Yet, the call of the Christ follower is not to bend to that natural tendency and to offer forgiveness. Why? Simply put, the two biggest words in all of human history- "But God."

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift —  not from works, so that no one can boast.
Ephesians 2.6-10 (CSB)

We were not worthy of the time, attention, or affection lavished on us by God. In the text from Ephesians 2, you see that we were dead in trespasses, but God's love and mercy made us alive and brought us salvation at an insanely great price. Trading His son for us seems to make no sense. It's beyond our comprehension. That's why just a little bit latter in the letter to the Ephesians, Paul prays that

He may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3.16-19 (CSB)

We cannot know the love of Christ from a human perspective. In fact, it is just that, beyond comprehension or surpassing knowledge, to know the love God has for us. That's why to become mature in the faith, God has to give us, "according to the riches of His glory," the ability to comprehend and understand His love so we can be rooted and grounded in a faith that makes mountains move. The kind of faith that forgives as freely as we have been forgiven. That's a tall order, but it's our marching orders from the One who matters most.

To get there, I believe we need to take some time for reflection, particularly on how greatly God has loved us, how great His mercy has been to us, and how greatly we have been forgiven. When we take the time to think about how amazing the grace God has given us is and how much we have been forgiven, it should inspire an attitude of immense gratitude. When we live from a grateful heart, reminded of how greatly we have been forgiven, it makes it infinitely easier to forgive others. When we dwell on what we have done and what we believe we deserve, it makes our hearts become "two sizes too small" (to quote that theological stalwart Dr. Seuss).

So today, remember who greatly you have been loved, how deeply you have been forgiven, and how phenomenally great the mercy your God has for you. As you remember those things, let the gratitude pour out of you loving others the way you have been loved. It might seem a small change and a minor focus, but it will change the world around you when you live from that knowledge in gratitude for the one who loved you first.

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