Is God’s Grace Unconditional

On Sunday Raewyn preached on Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy. This comes from our “Who Moved the Goalposts” series based around the beatitudes.

Something she said really struck a chord with me. Note the emphasis is mine.

We’re reluctant to show mercy because we can’t bring ourselves to let go of what’s owed to us. But if we call in the debt, we put ourselves in a position where our debts, too, are brought to light. Sometimes we can deal with this dilemma by trying to have it both ways. We resort to a kind of counterfeit mercy. We minimize the debt. We say, “Oh, it was nothing, it doesn’t matter. I’m bigger than that” – but all the while our inner accountant’s keeping track. Interest on the debt’s being compounded and we know exactly how much is owed to us.

We talk about God’s grace to us all the time but often forget that Jesus taught us to pray

… and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us…

We also tend to forget that he told us to leave our offering at the altar and don’t come back until we’re reconciled with those we need to reconcile with.

We Christians are good at forgetting this aren’t we? You see, while God’s love is unconditional, his grace and forgiveness are not! We need to:

• repent of our sins;
• forgive others who have hurt us; and
• try to reconcile with those with whom we are estranged.

Sounds tough doesn’t it, but this is what the Bible says.

Question 1: Is there someone you need to forgive or try to reconcile with?

Question 2: Is my reading of this too harsh? Let me know if you disagree!

Tags: Bible, Christianity, debt, Forgiveness, God, grace, Jesus, mercy, Repentance, sin

Tagged as: Bible, debt, Forgiveness, God, grace, Jesus, mercy, Repentance, sin