THINK TOGETHER
Can you remember a time when you should have been in trouble but instead you were shown mercy?
READ TOGETHER
Mercy is what happens when we don't get what we deserve. We deserve punishment but instead we are not punished. Or we deserve to have to pay for something we broke, but instead we don't have to pay. That's mercy. God is all about mercy. He loves to show mercy. Here's how the Apostle Peter explains God's mercy to us:
1 Peter 2:10. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Peter is reminding his readers of a story in the Old Testament, the story of the prophet Hosea and his wife Gomer. God used the prophet Hosea to show his people, the Israelites, that they were sinful and did not deserve God's mercy at all. Hosea was a picture of God and his wife Gomer was a picture of the nation of Israel. Gomer had been very sinful and unloving toward her husband Hosea. But God told Hosea to love his wife Gomer no matter what. No matter how bad she was Hosea always took care of her and loved her just the same.
That's a great story right? It's the story of the whole Bible and all of life. We sin. God forgives us. We don't deserve any mercy, but God shows us all the mercy in the world. Why? Why is God so merciful? Because he loves us just like Hosea loved his wife Gomer. He wants to live with us and take care of us forever. And because of Jesus he can. When we trust in Jesus we are receiving the mercy of God through what Jesus did for us on the cross. Mercy that will never end.
Because of Jesus even though we don't deserve mercy we get it.
With Jesus like Gomer we can return to God and love him the most.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Search for this video on YouTube: Hosea prophet to Israel, by the Gospel Project. Here you can watch the story of Hosea together (it's only 3 minutes long).
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, thank you for your mercy that keeps us from getting the punishment for our sins that we deserve. Amen.
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