4Jun2008 Eph 2:4

^4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy

I like the word order in the original Greek of this passage. It reads, “But God being rich in mercy, on account of his great love which he loved us.” Everything in our life starts with the richness of God’s mercy. He is the source of that mercy and the personal delivery service. Mercy had its beginning in God and when Jesus died and rose again we were privileged to see it in action. A holy God by nature must deal with sin. He can’t just let it slide. From sin’s inception He dealt with it with the shedding of blood with a view to His own blood being shed as a once for all payment on the cross. We must each deal with our sin as well. We can try to solve the problem ourselves, but we will inevitably fall short of the goal. Even if we could remember every sin, the payment made would remain a human payment. And a human payment, limited in its scope, cannot satisfy an infinite God. Sin is a much bigger deal than most of us imagine. That little lie has eternal consequences and as a result must have a payment that covers eternity. And that is where the greatness of God’s love comes in. God’s love is so rich, so all encompassing that He chose to pay the price for us. And since He is an eternal being, the price paid covers eternity. You see, His mercy worked with His love to accomplish on our behalf what we could never accomplish for ourselves. What a great God. What a loving Savior.