“Some friend you are,” said his dad accusingly.  “Your buddy worked all day fixing your car and now you’re going to go party and ditch him because he doesn’t drink and carry on like you.”
“Oh, no, Dad. I’m not going to leave him.  He has to come with us to be our designated driver.”

This is how dear Husband recalls the conversation between his close friend and his friend’s father on one occasion during their high school years.  Even then my dear husband was known for his refusal to drink and engage in immoral behavior.  But he was also the friend who drove his drunk friends home, put them in bed, and placed a wastebasket nearby for vomiting into.  He didn’t agree with their behavior, but he still cared about them.

Fast forward seven years.  Husband and I have met and married.  We are living across the country with our two young children.  The phone rings at 2:00 am.  We are panicked.  Husband answers in a voice filled with dread and fear.

“Hello?”
A familiar voice on the other end says, “J______, guess what?!  I just found out that Jesus died for fishermen and other liars!  I just got saved!”  (The friend is an avid fisherman.)

The years of not giving up on that crazy kid had had an effect.  It was his believing wife who drew him into the fold of God, but his longtime friend certainly influenced him as well.  He went on to spend the rest of his life serving God as a school teacher/principal in his church school and then pastoring churches while he and his wife raised 16 adopted children and four of their own.

God doesn’t give up on us.  When Moses met with God on the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments, God gave Moses an inside disclosure of himself.  We might expect God to start explaining himself to Moses by talking about his power, or perhaps his all-inclusive knowledge.  But no, God explained what his heart is like.  How he feels toward his people.  This is how God describes himself:

“Yahweh! The Lord!
The God of compassion and mercy!
I am slow to anger
    and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.
 
I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations.
    I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin.

But I do not excuse the guilty.
I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren;
the entire family is affected—
even children in the third and fourth generations.”  Exodus 25:6-7

His first response to his own children is 
compassion 
mercy 
unfailing love  
faithfulness
forgiveness  

Only after much provocation does he finally punish those who refuse his mercy.  But his judgment is short-lived compared to his mercy!  Four generations compared to one thousand generations.  120 years compared to 30,000 years of forgiveness!

But we’re so quick to write someone off.  They’re stuck in their mess and don’t show any signs of changing.  We had hoped for better from them.  They’ve disappointed us.  We’re disgusted. We decide they’re hopeless and not worth any more of our effort.  So we walk away.  We intuitively think God is like us.  We think he’s watching us from a cool distance sighing in frustration while we muddle through life.  Or worse, we think he’s easily provoked, angrily throwing down punishment on our helpless heads. At the very least, he must be put off by our bad behavior and turns his attention elsewhere.  

Let them [the wicked] turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them.
    Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.  Isaiah 55:7-8

But God isn’t like us.  He thinks far differently than we do.  He is so much more merciful and generous than we are.  Unlike us, his first reaction is to lovingly invite us back.  He is slow to anger.  He’d much rather show mercy than wrath.  He’s eager to welcome us back, not push us away. The only thing he requires is turning to him.  He wants to lift every one of us out of our mess and wash us off with his mercy and generous forgiveness. When we receive it, we live in joy and peace.  Our joy and peace brings honor to God.  We forgiven sinners put God’s power and love on display.

“You [who have received God’s mercy and forgiveness] will live in joy and peace. . . These events will bring great honor to the Lord’s name;
they will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.”  Isaiah 55:12,13

Here are my take-aways:  

I have to come to God with my sins.  Pretending I don’t need forgiveness means I don’t get forgiveness.  I need to turn around at first hint of sin and come running back to our loving and forgiving God who won’t turn me away or cool in his affection for me.  He is near.  He lavishes his unfailing love on me.  His first response is generous forgiveness.

Meditating on God’s eagerness to show his abundant mercy and unfailing love has really pointed out to me how opposite my inclinations are.  My first response to someone else’s sin is to turn away.  I throw up my hands and wonder why that person won’t straighten up.  I put emotional distance between us.  Scripture wasn’t kidding when it says that God’s thoughts about sinners are nothing like our thoughts about them.  God keeps inviting them, I give up easily.  God offers generous forgiveness.  I often offer only begrudging forgiveness.  God offers lavish mercy.  I often wish they’d get what they deserve.  It’s so ironic that a holy God is willing, yes, he actually goes after sinners to offer a fresh start, while I, a sinner myself, am quick to dismiss another wrongdoer.

But my reaction isn’t at all redemptive.  No one is helped when I respond like that.  So I’m becoming more aware of my wrong response and asking for help to change.  If a faultless God can reach out to messed up folks, I know he’ll help me, with my own messes, to mercifully reach out to others.

I really do want to be more like God when I see the shortcomings of others.  I want to:
Woo back, not write off
Pursue, not walk away
Offer hope, not deem them hopeless
Be impulsively merciful, not impulsively judgmental
Plead with, not ignore
Pardon, not punish
Be quick to forgive, not quick to get angry
Be happy to show mercy, not condemn
Be slow to give up

Who needs some mercy from you?

Please read this disclaimer.   There are times when we need to separate from a wrongdoer.  God will tell us to back away from individuals who pose a threat to us physically, mentally, or spiritually.  In this case, we can still hope for their repentance.  We can forgive and pray for them even if there’s never restoration of the relationship.  We must keep our hearts free of vengeful thoughts leaving the retribution to a just God.  Those who oppose God will receive his judgment, not his mercy.  But there is hope until their last breath that they will turn to God.  Only God knows what is in their heart.

 Photo credit for MGA (car) Bull Doser
Moses illustration  Scripture Press 1943, Chicago, IL