THINK TOGETHER
Can you remember a time when you should have been in trouble but instead you were shown mercy?
READ TOGETHER
Mercy is what happens when we don’t get what we deserve. We deserve punishment but instead we are not punished. Or we deserve to have to pay for something we broke, but instead we don’t have to pay. That’s mercy.
God is all about mercy. He loves to show mercy. Here’s how the Apostle Peter explains God’s mercy to us:
1 Peter 2:10. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Peter is reminding his readers of a story in the Old Testament, the story of the prophet Hosea and his wife Gomer. God used the prophet Hosea to show his people, the Israelites that they were sinful and did not deserve God’s mercy at all. Hosea was a picture of God and his wife Gomer was a picture of the nation of Israel. Gomer had been very sinful and unloving toward her husband Hosea.
But God told Hosea to love his wife Gomer no matter what. No matter how bad she was Hosea always took care of her and loved her just the same.
At first God used Hosea to tell the people that he would not show them any mercy. They had disobeyed and deserved to be rejected by God. They were like Gomer. Gomer left her husband Hosea behind and the Israelites had left God behind.
But then God said that he would forgive his people and show them mercy. And Hosea did the same thing for Gomer. He forgave her and showed her mercy.
That’s a great story right? And it’s the story of the whole Bible and all of life. We sin. God forgives us. We don’t deserve any mercy, but God shows us all the mercy in the world.
But why? Why is God so merciful? Because he loves us just like Hosea loved his wife Gomer. He wants to live with us and take care of us forever. And because of Jesus he can. When we trust in Jesus we are receiving the mercy of God through what Jesus did for us on the cross. Mercy that will never end no matter what.
Because of Jesus even though we don’t deserve mercy we get it.
With Jesus like Gomer we can return to God and love him the most.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Watch this video about Hosea together to learn more about this important story.
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus,
Thank you for your mercy that keeps us from getting the punishment for our sins that we deserve.
Amen.
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