God’s Mercy Is The Only Thing That Makes Christians Different

God’s Mercy Is The Only Thing That Makes Christians Different

        Today I was listening to Grace To You which is a radio bible teaching ministry by pastor John MacArthur broadcast on weekdays. At the end of the lesson he mentioned that “the only thing that makes you different is God’s mercy.” This is a profound statement. A Christian is no different than any godless sinner. We have the same sinful desires within us, that is to say, we are in our flesh and thus have our sin nature intact while alive on earth. We have not left to receive glorified bodies yet. So often a Christian who thinks he is currently “living holy” or “living pure” realizes he is just as sinful as someone else because he gave into temptation. This crushes the self righteousness within us.

        All Christians sin and sometimes go off into “sin binges” when the sin nature comes back to the surface in a time of weakness. These binges might last for a time. All we can do is use God’s enabled ability to work for righteousness to quit the sin, repent, and keep on serving God. Hopefully we do not go off the deep end, guilt is always there but do not let it eat away at you and just move forward. This is why Christian accountability and fellowship is important so we can have strength in numbers and not be alone to give into temptation, and if we do give in we have brothers and sisters to set us straight and encourage us to quit and live clean.

        The Christian cannot claim he is special or holy or a good person above others. But we can proclaim God’s truth and stand up for what is true and refute what is false. Just because we sin, and sometimes go off in bad ways (but always come back), does not mean our Gospel is invalid or has thus been disqualified. The truth remains. God has forgiven us and we are clean and not guilty since Christ took the punishment already. So just go back to it, and remember the cross and ask for God’s power to over come sin, and that you will quit your sinful struggle so you can better serve God. If you are high and mighty and think you are a super spiritual person and worthy of some seminary degree and pastorship, check yourself. You are nothing special and it is only God’s mercy, the fact he does not express his wrath onto you because of your sin, that makes you any different from the typical godless sinner. Otherwise you might fall into sin and be disqualified for your ministry position.