It is easy to confuse the two, but grace and mercy are not synonymous. Grace expresses more of the sovereign dispensation of undeserved favor connected to our salvation. Jesus is the final, definitive revelation of God’s grace teaching us to say no to sin and yes to godliness.
Mercy is speaking more of God’s silencing of judgment, withholding punishment when deserved, and even giving gifts to the undeserving. Mercy illustrates the attribute of God’s divine nature, His gift of unmerited kindness and compassion.
Similarly, love is not the same as sympathy. Sympathy acknowledges that we know how someone else feels. We may have experienced the same circumstance and have empathy toward them. But the truth is, it is only a feeling that may illicit a momentary response resulting in nothing more than kindness.
Love, on the other hand, distinguishes itself in the same way that Jesus revealed to us through his life, even unto death. Love is God moving ceaselessly in our lives to reveal His true self to us. We truly show the depth of God’s love in us when we expend all that we have to help someone even to our hurt.
Grace, mercy, love, and sympathy are by nature nonphysical, but reveal themselves in very tangible ways. Each of these invisible attributes motivates our responses to life’s circumstances. That is what makes it all too easy to react improperly if we don’t take the time to think things through. It lends weight to the phrase, “If you are angry, count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred!”
These noncorporeal characteristics explain the ease with which we move in and out of how we feel. One day a circumstance will roll off like water on a duck’s back. Another day the same circumstance unleashes the beast within. We can spend a lifetime trying to master these traits but even then, we must always remember that in our humanity alone, we can rarely control these invisible forces.
We live in a material world that beckons us to ignore the truth. People tend to concentrate on what they can see, not realizing that life in the unseen realm is more real than the temporary flesh of our bodies. Once you begin to see what is invisible to physical eyes, trusting in the invisible becomes possible. As a God Player, the key is learning to walk in both worlds, God’s Kingdom and this earthly realm, knowing we influence and can change much.
“The good man’s past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of heaven…” – C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
Ever wonder how the apostles learned? Did you know that it was 40 to 50 years after their conversion before the epistles in the bible were written? Imagine that! It took the disciples of Jesus their lifetime to truly live and then teach that which Christ imparted to them and the Holy Spirit made real to them.
As God Players, we have come to rely on the knowledge that only the Holy Spirit unveils true wisdom. Without the Holy Spirit, we are like a ship on the ocean without a rudder, floundering to overcome the swells that interfere with our true course.
Grace and mercy give us the time to change. It is grace that discloses the good news of the gospel compelling us to change and undeserved mercy that tells us now is the time to accept what we did not deserve. Now imagine what God may have in store for us if we just gave the Holy Spirit the time to complete His work in us!
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