January 12, 2012 – Sirach 16

There are those in the world that will not change their ways and believe that a merciful God will not punish them for their sins because of God’s infinite mercy. This is a mistake. We can rely on God’s infinite mercy, but only if we are actively seeking to live as God calls us to live. God’s will be merciful to those that seek to follow Him and fall. But mercy is not for those who ignore God’s call and seek their own pleasure. Those are the sinful that are to be punished. God’s mercy is infinite, but great as His mercy is His punishment (verse 12). What can a person who willfully disobeys the commands laid out by God expect. If you listen to some, they expect God to just ignore that fact. God cannot do this, or He is not God. God, if He is God, is perfect in everything, including justice and must give us what we deserve, or He is not God. A god who ignores all our wrongs so that we can be with him in eternity may be the god that people believe in, but that is not God, the God of the Bible, the true God. I am sure there are many people that left this world relying on the infinite mercy of God to wipe away all the wrongs they choose in this world only to find out what infinite justice looks like. After we leave this world we are given what we have chosen while we were here. If we did not choose God here, He is not going to give that to us for eternity. And if we aren’t with Him in Heaven, there is only one other place that awaits us. Be careful on how we view God’s mercy. It is infinite and given freely by God to bring us to Heaven, but it is not a license to live life on Earth as we desire. There is a price to choosing to live life that way and we may be surprised at the difference between God’s understanding of mercy and our own.