Thursday-October 1-Billy Graham

We Need Mercy

The LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting.

PSALM 100:5

Many Christians do not see God in all of His wholeness. We glibly quote John 3:16—but we forget this verse: “He who does not believe has been judged already” (v. 18 NASB).

Yes, God is loving and compassionate, but He is also absolutely holy and pure. He is the holy Judge who will someday bring His full wrath to bear on those who refuse to repent.

All too often we are more afraid of physical pain than of moral wrong. The cross is the proof that holiness is a principle for which God would die. God cannot clear the guilty until atonement is made. But that is what happened at the cross.

So do not take sin lightly. Do not tolerate sin in your life, saying, “Oh well, God will forgive me anyway.” Sin is an offense to Almighty God. He will have mercy on us when we repent, but He also is the Judge, and “everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13 NIV).