Mercy’s kiss

Matthew 1:23 says, “Listen! A virgin will be pregnant, she will give birth to a Son, and he will be known as “Emmanuel,” which means in Hebrew, “God became one of us.”  Some translations say “God is with us.” Those two things are both true and equally important.

Last week we talked about how Jesus was fully God and fully human when He did His earth journey. He chose to become human so He could better relate to us. Hebrews 4:14-16 says, “So then, we must cling in faith to all we know to be true. For we have a magnificent King-Priest, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who rose into the heavenly realm for us, and now sympathizes with us in our frailty. He understands humanity, for as a man, our magnificent King-Priest was tempted in every way just as we are, and conquered sin. So now we draw near freely and boldly to where grace is enthroned, to receive mercy’s kiss and discover the grace we urgently need to strengthen us in our time of weakness.”

I think sometimes people struggle to believe in God not because they believe that He is bad but because He seems too good to be true. We try to think, “If I were God I would never come to Earth and put up with people. I would do this and that and smite that person and strike that one with a bolt of lightning.” We think what we would do with immeasurable power. Because we are corrupted by sin, it never ends well in our imagination, and if it does, we are lying to ourselves. We would destroy ourselves and others along the way.

God became one of us but He is not like us. We are fully human and it ends there, He had the God part to Him too. See God did not become one of us so He could look down on us and tell us we should do better, be better. He became one of us so He could help us when we feel like we cannot carry on. So He could love us when we feel unlovable. Reach us when we feel unreachable. Have mercy on us when we deserve judgment. Strengthen us when we feel weak.

Jesus became human so He could relate to us when we are feeling some type of way. This is the reason why we need to draw in closer to Jesus when life is not going as planned. This is why we should cry out to Him and be honest with Him about what we are going through and how we feel, when we feel ashamed and want to hide. Hiding from Him won’t fix your problems. Running to Him will. God became one of us so He could better relate to us and help us in our time of need.

Jesus also came so He could be God with us. It is easy to believe that God is with us when we are on the mountain top and we are seeing prayers being answered. It is much harder when everything seems dark and it seems there is no end in sight. Sometimes we act like God compartmentalises our lives the way we do. God is with us when we are at work as much as when we are at church. So, the question is, do the people in your workplace know you are saved? Do they know you know Jesus? Or are they hiding from you because you are no fun to be around? Immanuel, God with us. That is an all day, every day kind of God. Not a Sunday God.

Jesus is with you in the grocery store when that kid is screaming and having a tantrum I aisle 4. In the airport when your flight is delayed. In traffic when people cut you off. Is your life reflective of the fact that the merciful and loving Saviour is with you or are you the most anxious person at your job? If our lives as Christians are identical to those who are unsaved, what is to draw people to Christ? It can’t be our stank attitude.

God is with us. We need to walk like we know Jesus is walking with us and treat people the way we want to be treated and show kindness and mercy the way we want to receive kindness and mercy. Micah 6:8 says, “…O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.“

If Jesus showed up in person, would you need to make some adjustments to your day, your tone or your attitude? Probably. So, let’s choose now to believe that God is truly with us and adjust our lives and walk and talk like Jesus is standing right next to us. Walk into that interview like Jesus is walking in with you. Talk to that person like Jesus is listening. Live life like someone who knows Jesus not someone who heard about Him and occasionally sees Him on the weekends.

God is with us, so how about we take God to the people in our world and introduce them to Him.

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano.