A GOD WHOSE NAME IS MERCY
Nothing is easier than attaining
forgiveness from God. This is the biggest truth that we’ve got to believe. God
is more eager to give forgiveness than we to receive it. Many refuse to believe
this. They constantly brood over how miserable and wretched they have been,
wishing they had never sinned, wishing they had always kept a clean sheet.
For Jesus, even though to sin is the
greatest evil, to be a sinner is a value. Hate sin with all your heart and
avoid it. But if you have sinned and repented, then you have reasons to
rejoice, because there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents
than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance (Lk 15:7). Who
can understand this kind of madness? That’s the crazy God we have.
Then we may ask: Why not sin
deliberately so that we shall receive even more grace? No, remember we are
dealing here with a mystery that is beyond the comprehension of the human mind.
It is important to maintain the truth of both these opposites. Hate sin and if
you have sinned and repented, consider yourself very lucky indeed because grace
is going to be poured into you in superabundant measure. “Where sin abounded;
grace abounded all the more” (Rom 5:20). The repentant sinner draws God to himself
with greater force than a magnet.
This is the good news Jesus
proclaimed. The other stuff about being sorry and making a hundred penances for
our sins is not good news at all. It is stale news (an Old Testament idea). We
knew it all along without the preaching of Jesus. May we understand our
merciful God we have, so that we may live our lives freely and joyfully.
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