But...Mercy!

I was on my way, alone, to take a test. This was a type of test that I had never taken before.  I'm good at tests.  I have a photographic memory, which makes memorizing facts and figures easy for me.  No, this test was not like that.  I was on my way to get my blood drawn to determine if I had the gene marker for breast cancer.  The same gene that had subjected my mother and my aunt to breast cancer at the age of 40.

Needless to say, my mind was not on the road.  On the outskirts of one of the small towns I had to pass through, I noticed those flashing lights behind me.  I was quite surprised.  A highway patrol woman pulled me over. I guess I was going a little fast.  After she ran my license, she also discovered that I had outdated tabs on my license plates.  Gee, thanks!  She asked if I had already paid them, and I said, "No! I haven't even seen the renewal letter yet!"  I had no good excuses to give her; I was clearly guilty of speeding and expired plates. 

I'm going to call it "a woman's intuition!"  The officer must have sensed that I was already rattled and stressed.  She let me off with a written warning and the advice that I could renew my license plates in the town I was traveling to.  The stop did not take that long, and I was not late to my appointment.

This woman showed me some mercy when I had clearly needed it. According to dictionary.com, mercy is "compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power; benevolence." I was the offender; the officer was the benevolent one that extended the underserved mercy. 

Don't we all need undeserved mercy? Haven't we all offended God? Don't our sins separate us from our Holy God? Without Jesus' blood to save us, aren't we considered enemies of God? But, "All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation" (1 Peter 1:3, emphasis added).  We were dead in our sin, but we were born again by God's great mercy, freely offered through the work of Jesus on the cross. We were condemned, but! We were God's enemies, but!  Praise God!

Because of God's mercy and the salvation available through faith in Jesus, the last part of that verse in 1 Peter says, "Now we live with great expectation." This is the bonus!  This is what Jesus describes in John 10:10! "The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life." We not only get eternal life, which is the best gift of all, but we get God living in us. Therefore, we have great power, joy, peace and strength at our disposal.  Tapping into these God-given resources is the key to a full and satisfying life.  Before God we were weak, sad, stressed, and alone.  But, God's mercy changed all that! We can turn to God and seek Him first, and then we can expect the blessings to come.  We can achieve abundant life through Christ! Amen!

Another Amen: God showed me some additional mercy that day.  It turns out that I do NOT have the breast cancer gene!  Thank you, God!

I'm linked up at tsuzanneeller.com  on #livefreeThursday today!