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December 13, 2003
The Mercy of God - and the Grace of God - two separate parts of His character, or attributes. Yet it is almost impossible to speak of one without the other.
I believe that new or young Christians can seldom appreciate what is meant by these two phrases - simply because they have not yet experienced the spiritual growth or maturity to do so. It is only as they grow and fall, and get up again, as they begin to learn more of the depths of God's forgiving love, that they begin to understand His Mercy and His Grace.
We
learn so quickly to define "grace" as "unmerited (or undeserved)
favour" - but how little we really understand it, apart from our
initial experience of it when we were first saved. Not until after the
passage of time, and after repeated failures to be all we should be, or
often after repeated disobedience and sin - after trips into "Bypass
Meadows" - do we really begin to know and appreciate and love God ever
more deeply for His Mercy and His Grace. Only then, after we have
really begun to know ourselves, do we really begin to understand what
"undeserved favour" really means - and only then do we begin to know
how little we deserve His Mercy. It is then that we begin to be truly,
and continually thankful for our many blessings - but especially for
God Himself.
For myself - I know only too well the
truth of what I've written above. After I became saved, I began to
realize the Lord had been calling me for a long time before I heard Him
and surrendered my life to Him. But I knew very little about the
meaning of "grace or "mercy" then. He began very quickly to teach me
many things. He gave me a deep and abiding hunger for His Word, and a
growing desire to pray. I was already married and had had three
children in three and a half years, and seventeen months later, number
four came along. After losing several over the next four years, I then
had two more in just over three years, bringing our family to six. So
there were many times of testing and failure, and having to ask for and
receive forgiveness.
By the time I was three years a Christian I
was asked to teach in Sunday School, and in doing so, I learned to pray
for the Lord to teach me first. So through the years - in the
times of hurt, of anger, of failure, of many things good and bad, He
taught me to know more of His love and forgiveness, more of what His
Grace meant, and especially did I learn to appreciate His Mercy for the
many times I didn't deserve it. Such a mixture of wonderful times
and hard times, over the years, and only my Lord and I know how little I
deserve the blessings He continues to pour upon me - or the doors He
continues to open for me to serve Him. As I grow older I
find a deepening of love and joy and peace - but even more, a
deepening appreciation of His continuing Grace and Mercy for one who so
little deserves it.
about the author
Esther Swyer was born in
Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia. The eldest of eight children
she married at twenty-one and promptly had six children. She
became a Christian in October of 1958 at the age of twenty-five
and was baptised in December of that year. She began teaching a
Sunday School class of a dozen nine to ten year olds
in 1961 or 1962 and has been
teaching various age groups ever since.
Esther began teaching adults and leading Bible studies sometime in the seventies. She became involved in WMS in the late sixties and held various positions over the years, then in the early to mid-seventies she started serving on the Association Council. On top of all that she was involved for many years in ladies retreats serving as small groups director for around twenty years. Currently Esther is president of the WMS on the Association level, treasurer of her church, adult ladies class teacher, and is completing her third year as a church deacon.
Her first marriage ended after twenty-two years. She re-married thirteen years later in December 1988 and was widowed in June of 2000. She has eighteen grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Esther has just published a book about her spiritual journey.