Nurtured by our Daily Return to Mercy
Disparaging…pained, withering, reproachful, weary. Do any of these words provide insight into the present state of your heart, core identity, emotional condition or inner man? So many are fighting a fierce battle; hoping against hope, to somehow escape the depths of despair. They are encompassed on every side by a continuous onslaught of intense, unrelenting, unsettling, shaking and calamity. Well, we can be restored to the antonym of disparaging; hopeful.
We can daily return to the reality that only Christ offers—hopeful victory; the overcoming of our enemies, antagonists, or self-inflicted struggles! This is not some empty or vain pretense. “No, in all these things (the disparaging events and conditions) we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Romans 8:37, NIV, parenthesis mine.
“So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us?
And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us?
There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture…none of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.” Romans 8:31-39 (vs. 36 not used) and some emphases mine.
Even in light of this amazing exhaustive list there is one ominous thing/issue missing! The reality of “yesterday” or the “past” not being under the blood of Jesus; healed and resolved is to me glaringly not in the list of what cannot separate us from his love! I am learning (painstakingly and albeit, slowly) that I must daily throw myself and past sins, issues, failures; everything to His mercy!
Our unresolved past has a way of blocking his love and banishing us from his incredible loving presence. Our only hope to remain in victory is for him to be our only hope! By cleansing, forgiving and forgetting our past, He is continuously working out ways to bring me back from self-inflicted exile and shaming banishment. Let’s stop banishing ourselves from his presence. Let’s stop receiving the lies of our arch-enemy. A life of consistent victory will be the result!
“…But God does not take away life, He works out ways to get the exiles back.” 2 Sam. 14:14b, The Message. Every day is an adventure in faith with Jesus; watching the fresh, inventive ways he will woo and draw us back to himself. ”The words of despair belong to the wind,” Job. Let Jesus blow away the chaff of self-inflicted exile and banishment each new day! Be nurtured by your constant return to mercy!
In the grip of a love that will not let me go! Ron Ross
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