There are many character traits and attributes of God. There’s more, but I want to focus on what I call “the final four.” They are Mercy and Grace, Love, and Holiness.
Mercy and Grace always seem to get lumped together. They are both involved deeply in our salvation. “’I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.” [Romans 9:15-16]
Without mercy, we would have no hope of salvation, no hope of heaven, no hope of seeing this wonderful God who created us. As the Bible declares in many ways, we have all fallen short of the glory of God. Jesus reiterated that there are two great commandments. We are to love the LORD our God with all our heart, soul and mind. And we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. We have failed in both.
None of us have ever had the capacity to love that way and thus, we have broken the greatest commandments and are lawbreakers deserving death. But God doesn’t give us what we deserve, instead, He offers us mercy.
God is also gracious. “The LORD is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.“ [Psalm 145:8]
God gives us grace. In giving us grace for salvation, God gives us what we do not deserve.
Grace and Mercy. Two wonderful strands wrapped around the heart of God – reaching out as an invitation to His salvation, drawing His prodigal children home.
