Today's Daily Lesson comes from 2 Samuel chapter 14 verse 14:
"We must all die; we are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up. But God will not take away a life; he will devise plans so as not to keep an outcast banished for ever from his presence."
God is still and always at work, maneuvering to bring the sinner home. Long after we ourselves might have given up on someone, or even closed the door on them, God has His ways. We may lock the door and throw away the key, but God always carries a spare.
This can be tough for those hurt or wounded or who have done right while others have done wrong. But it is the very heart of the Gospel message. As the Psalmist says, "The LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting."
In a couple of weeks, we'll celebrate Second B's anniversary Sunday and will sing as we always do "To God be the Glory". There's a line in that hymn which says, "The vilest offender who truly believes that moment from Jesus a pardon receives." The vilest offender. Who is the vilest offender? I am thinking about those so-called White Nationalists in Charlottesville. I can hardly think of anything more vile than white nationalism. And here this word says that God is working on them too, that God hasn't given up on any of them.
I tell you this "everlasting mercy" stuff can be hard to stomach. I'd trade it in if I didn't know that at times I've been just about the vilest offender myself. I'd trade it in, except I wouldn't get anything back in return.
So I guess I'll have to keep it. Offensive as it is, it really is the Gospel.
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