God’s Mercy came. Posted on December 24th, 2010
Joy is the last thing we expect when the fact of our sinfulness penetrates our hearts. We know we deserve to be miserable, and so often we are tempted to wallow in misery as a way to prove how sorry we are or to try to get back in God’s favor. But God doesn’t want wallowing. Wallowing actually has more to do with us than with God: “Oh Lord, MY sin is so very bad. How could you love someone as bad as ME?”
Instead of wallowing, godly grief embraces grace. We forget our own badness and look at God’s kind heart and willingness to forgive. We look away from ourselves and toward the cross, where our badness was crucified with Christ. It is not our sin that wins the day, But God’s mercy.”
-Lydia Brownback, Joy
Thanks goes to Christie for bringing this wonderful quote to my attention.