I was introduced to Christ as a toddler. I possess a photo of my mother holding me inside a Sunday school room at that age. I accepted Christ as my Savior at about seven years old. Pastor Gary Phipps, a fiery Pentecostal preacher who seldom took a full breath between sentences (only by the power of God did he not hyperventilate while preaching), preached a sermon on heaven and hell. He finished by looking me in the eye and saying that, even if I was the only person who had ever been born, Christ would have died for me. I figured that I should give my heart to Him in return. 

I have since backslidden and repented thousands of time. There could be no one on earth who has stumbled and fallen more than I. Yet, His mercies never fail. He is always waiting for me with open arms when I return, so long I am truly repentant. 

A man I know did something terrible and it landed him in federal court. He couldn’t afford a lawyer, and the public defender’s office didn’t show up for the arraignment. My friend, not understanding that the system did not allow a guilty plea at that point, plead guilty. The judge looked at him and said, “No, son, at this point, you are not guilty.”

“But, I did it, your honor.”

“But, right now, in the eyes of the law, you are innocent … until proven guilty…”

With God, we are not “innocent until proven guilty,” we are, “guilty, but forgiven because Jesus has already served your sentence.”

That doesn’t give us a free pass to keep sinning, but because God loves us, He has forgiven all our sins, past and future. His mercies are greater than our sins. 

What Paul is telling us in this verse, Romans 12:1, that in light of God’s mercies, we should give Him our unending love and devotion. 

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

Thank you, God, for your never-ending mercies, because I am just an ever-fallible human. 

I stood in the court room the judge turned my way. 

It looks like you’re guilty now what do you say?

I spoke up, “Your honor, I have no defense.”

But that’s when mercy walked in. 

Mercy walked in and pleaded my case. 

Called to the stand God’s saving grace

The blood was presented that covered my sin. 

Forgiven, when mercy walked in. 

Praise the lord.

Mercy Walked In

By Gordon Mote and Sheri Easter

Source

I’ve done in again. I do the things that I don’t want to do… that I never want to do. And the things I want to do, well… I just don’t do them. That paraphrasing of the words of Apostle Paul could apply to every man and woman who has ever served God. They apply to me. Yesterday, you and I talked about dying daily, but which of us go a day without failing God? I die daily because I know I fail Him daily. 

As a young Christian, I often asked my pastor if I could sin so much that God wouldn’t forgive me. Many times I feared I had reached a “point of no return.” Now, I know that there is no sin too awful to be washed away by the blood of the Son of God. To think so is wrong, and, in its own peculiar way, prideful. 

God’s love is unconditional. He doesn’t love us when we are good and hate us when we are bad. His love never changes. To think otherwise is to attribute frail human qualities to the perfect nature of God. His love never fails us. In a strange and inexplicable way, He is always ready to forgive me when I sin. He’s ready to forgive you, too. 

His love truly is amazing. 

…I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.         -Romans 7:14-17

O wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!.                                 -Romans 7:24-25

Source