Grace, Love, Compassion…

Scripture:
1 John 1:9 (NIV)

 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Devotional:

Everyone needs forgiveness, compassion, love, and mercy.  Even if you refuse to admit it to yourself you need these things as well.  Too often I find myself making the same mistakes over and over.  You would think I would have learned by now.  Romans 7:19-25 (NIV):

For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 

So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! 

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin…

Paul also struggled with the same struggles we do.  Time after time I find myself repeating the words of Paul.  I could have been the one who wrote them.  The good news is that God is faithful and if we confess our sins we are forgiven.  God shows us mercy, grace, love, compassion.  The next time someone does something wrong, remember that God’s love and grace is given to them.  If God can forgive and show grace, mercy, and love shouldn’t we? The last time I checked God is greater than I am.  Jesus is the teacher.  The student is not greater than the teacher.  If He can show grace, love, mercy, and compassion then how can I do any less…  What about you?