Two weeks ago, I posted a simple five-line post about the difference between grace and mercy. It was a distinction that has helped me understand these similar attributes, especially when you think of them as being displayed by God toward us, as well as helping us consider how we display these same godly attributes toward others. Here is what I wrote:
What's the difference between grace and mercy?
Grace gives us what we don't deserve
Mercy doesn't give us what we do deserve.
We serve a God abundant in both.
To be like Him, so must we.
The next day, I received a private message about this post from a good friend who preaches in Florida. Even though I have not seen him in decades, I count him as a friend I trust and love more than most people I know. So when Edwin Crozier offers insights on passages, I consider it with the utmost attention.
By the way, if you have not plugged into any of the books he has written, listened to his sermons on YouTube, or followed his Podcast, Text Talk, then do yourself a favor and find a way to sit at his feet. He has a way of opening your eyes to some amazing things about our God that will leave you nourished, encouraged, and motivated to take action.
Anyway, back to his private message. He did not agree with my simple portraying of grace and mercy in the post and wanted to share his thoughts with me. As usual, he had some very powerful words for me to consider. I asked him if I could share his private message with my readers. He agreed, so I will post his message here for you to read and consider.
But before I do, I want to share what I consider an even more important observation in this interaction. To me, this is what healthy relationships in Christ look like. Edwin approached me in a private message because he didn’t want this to be a spectacle and have people publicly focus on the disagreement. The truth is, I would not have felt any slight had he posted the same message publicly.
Why? Because I love and trust him. I “believe all things” and give him the benefit of the doubt that his motives are not nefarious. I genuinely believe he approaches these things out of love and a desire to discuss the things of the Lord more fully. What a wonderful gift to have someone like Edwin in your life.
This has developed because of many such interactions. After discussing things with me, I have seen him reconsider things he believed, and I have rethought many things after talking to him. When you trust the person you are talking to, it frees you from being defensive and allows you to walk the path in pursuit of truth unencumbered with the trappings of defensiveness and pride.
So, let me post his comments for you to consider because he is a godly man worth considering. But as you read these comments, please consider more the love and trust behind the relationship that allows this kind of interaction between two godly men who love each other and love the Lord more than anything else.
As you approach others, believe all things and give the benefit of the doubt. Speak the Truth in love. Become the person who can share without bludgeoning. I hope you all find an Edwin in your life who can share the way he can share as you walk together with the Lord toward our final reward.
So, this is what my friend sent me after my simple five-line post:
Hey, broski. Please, allow me a little push back on a post. You've unwittingly uncovered one of my pet peeves.
I know the delineation made between grace and mercy in your recent post is one commonly stated. It gets said over and over and over again. It's very clever. It sounds great. We all love a nice turn of phrase.
However, I just don't think it is true.
In Luke 10:37, after Jesus told the story of the benevolent Samaritan, He asked who proved to be a neighbor to the man who had been beaten. The Lawyer said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus told the lawyer to go do likewise. The lawyer was simply not saying that the Samaritan didn't give to the beaten man what he deserved.
In Genesis 32:5, Jacob sent a great number of gifts to Esau in order to find “grace” in his sight. Jacob deserved for Esau to beat the daylights out of him, but wanted Esau not to give him what he deserved.
And then, about half the time, I read people making this kind of distinction, they say it the other way, “Grace doesn't give us what we deserve and mercy gives us what we don't deserve.”
The reason is, this distinction just doesn't hold up.
There is just an incredible amount of overlap in the terms. Mercy means showing kindness and compassion in the midst of someone's affliction. In order to do that, we sometimes give people what they don't deserve, we sometimes don't give them what they do deserve, sometimes we give them precisely what they deserve but simply don't have the power to do for themselves.
Just thought I'd share this with you.
You know what? Edwin has used Scripture to give me something more to think about. Indeed, there is more to grace and mercy than my simple five-line post stated. Sometimes, pithy posts can miss much of the richness needed to really understand the depth of a subject full of depth.
Edwin then pointed me to a series of lessons he preached about the Name of the Lord. Sprinkled throughout this series is a treatment of what grace and mercy is like. If you listened to his series for no other reason than to be edified, it would be well worth the time you invest. Just scroll back a few posts to see a published public playlist where I found and placed all lessons in the series in an easy way for you to find.
To my friend Edwin, thanks for sharing your insights. While I still believe that grace has aspects of giving to others what they do not deserve and mercy has aspects of withholding from them what they do deserve, you have opened my eyes to just how much more depth there is to these amazing attributes. You have started me down a path of further study, and that is a wonderful gift to have given me.
I love you, brother, for the grace and mercy you have consistently extended to me throughout our friendship.
It seems to me that the Lord wants to forgive and forget our sins.
He wants to separate our sins as far as the heavens are from the earth.
But at times, there comes judgment with no remedy.
Psalm 95 says that for 40 years, God loathed that generation and swore in His wrath that they would not enter into His rest.
God does not react in uncontrolled anger as we often do, but when it becomes evident to Him that we
will not change,
will not repent,
will not return,
then, there comes a time when, even in the presence of
His loving kindness,
His steadfast love,
His matchless grace,
God will give us over to our own way.
When God yields to our rebellion, it is because of our obstinance and not because of His
short temper,
hot-headed response, or
impatience with us.
God's patience with us ends when we decide to stop seeking a relationship with Him and live our own way.
Yet even then, we see evidence that God still holds out hope for us much longer than we deserve.
His steadfast love truly does endure forever.
I am wrapping up Psalm in my daily Bible reading. The 124th Psalm says,
“If it had not been the LORD who was on our side—”
How many of us can say this as we look back on our lives?
When we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, can we look back and say,
“If it had not been the LORD who was on our side—”
When we look at the wonderful things that happened with our family, can we say,
“If it had not been the LORD who was on our side—”
When we look at the things that seemed serendipitous at the time, can we reframe and say,
“If it had not been the LORD who was on our side—”
As citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, we know the Lord is with us, we are not left alone, and the Lord answers our prayers.
We have the privilege and expectation to look back on everything in our lives and say what the Psalmist said in 124,
“If it had not been the LORD who was on our side—”
Sometimes, I think back to the terrible things I said to someone or a selfish act I committed when I should have extended grace to someone.
I know that Jesus extends grace to me, but I wish I could go back in time to redo many things.
It's not just that I treated others poorly but that, because of my choices, I did not honor God and glorify His name.
But that's the difference between God and us. I will never be able to redo or remove the sins I committed.
Only God has the power to remove that sin from me.
And so I lean on Him to do what I cannot do for myself with my past.
I am watching the news and listening to people say the craziest things about their right to do whatever they want to do, be whatever they want to be, say whatever they want to say,
And all I want to do is look into Heaven and say, “God, on behalf of mankind, I apologize...”
If we paid as much attention to how we spend time which we can never get back
As we do on how we spend money which we can get back,
I wonder how different our choices would be.
I was just in the kitchen sneaking a cookie from the platter for Mother's Day tomorrow. As I popped it into my mouth and started chewing, I looked up and saw the Ring camera recording my transgression.
I'm pretty sure God will have all these Ring cameras at His disposal on Judgement Day.
God offers us eternity through His Son.
He has done everything to reconcile us back to Himself.
Is there anything in this life
So desirous
So tempting
So enticing
So valuable
That compares with the reward Jesus promises those who give Him their allegiance?
I promise, on that day, nothing will come close to comparing to the joys that await us.
Do not
Do not
Do NOT
Trade away the treasure for a mess of pottage.
I am in Proverbs in my daily Bible reading. The nature of this book is that each verse can have its own post and thoughts. But today, I came across a verse that caused me to stop and consider its impact upon my life.
And it is a little unsettling.
“Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the LORD; be assured, he will not go unpunished.” (Proverbs 16:5 ESV).
This proverb isn't talking about someone who commits a hateful or violent act against another.
It's not talking about someone violating issues of morality.
It's not taking about someone who takes from others.
This verse talks about my heart. While I can fool everyone else and seem pious and righteous, God sees through it all, into my very heart.
And if my heart is arrogant, God see it. Proverbs calls it an abomination.
An abomination.
God hates the arrogant heart.
Not only does He hate the arrogant heart, Provers says in no uncertain terms, “be assured, he will not go unpunished.”
How I must spend time in prayer, spend time in the Word, spend time with the Spirit, to ensure my heart is humble before God and that I don't lift it up in arrogance and offend my God.
Here is a bonus thought from the Proverbs today. Boy, it's a proverb for the 21st century, isn't it?
“Whoever says to the wicked, “You are in the right,” will be cursed by peoples, abhorred by nations,
but those who rebuke the wicked will have delight, and a good blessing will come upon them.” (Proverbs 24:24-25 ESV).
We don't have to look far to see people lifting up those who commit evil and demonizing those who do good.
Thank goodness most people can see through this perversion of justice, even though those who commit injustice would have us believe that everyone stands with them.
Indeed, there is nothing new under the sun.
I am in the book of Ecclesiastes in my daily Bible reading. It is a book that pursues purpose. It looks everywhere and evaluates what it finds.
The purpose in life is not found in
Education
Riches
Accomplishments
Pleasure
Fame.
The conclusion of everything: Fear God and keep His commandments.
This is wisdom.
This is life.
This is purpose.
Yet, like the preacher in Ecclesiastes, we will still look in all the wrong places for our purpose when God tells His image-bearers where our purpose will only be found.
In Him.
We will never be able to create the one true God in our image.
We can try, but we end up creating a false god.
On Judgement Day, when we face the one true God Who does not change, will we be shocked that He is not Who we created Him to be in our minds?
When we- if we- attend church services to worship Him today, are we worshipping the God we read about in the Bible,
Or are we worshipping a false idol created from our own minds?
If we seek God, we can find Him.
If we seek an idol, we will find it as well.
Who are we seeking this Sunday morning?
“I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.” (Proverbs 8:17 ESV).
In my previous post, I asked ChatGPT to analyze the manuscript of my book, 𝐓𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐓𝐨𝐧𝐲, 𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐞 𝐎𝐧𝐞. You can read my previous post to see how it summarized the book.
Then, I was curious how it would summarize the style of my book, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝. It was a much deeper book, dealing with more complex questions about God, religion, and theology. Below is the AI summary of my book, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝 by ChatGPT:
Based on the excerpts from “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝” by Tony Eldridge, here is an analysis of your writing style and key elements:
Writing Style Analysis
Tone and Voice:
Authoritative: Your writing has a confident and authoritative tone, especially when discussing theological concepts. You present your arguments with certainty and clarity.
Reflective and Philosophical: The tone is also reflective, encouraging readers to think deeply about the nature of God and their relationship with Him.
Structure and Organization:
Detailed and Thorough: Each chapter delves deeply into specific aspects of God's sovereignty, providing a comprehensive examination of the topic.
Logical Progression: The content is structured logically, starting with definitions and moving through scriptural analysis, personal reflections, and practical applications.
Content and Themes:
Theological Depth: Your writing is rich with theological insights, grounded in scripture. You explore complex concepts such as the nature of sovereignty, God's omnipotence, and the interplay between divine sovereignty and human free will.
Scriptural References: Similar to “Tuesdays With Tony Vol 1,” this manuscript is filled with biblical references, primarily from the English Standard Version (ESV), to support your points.
Language and Style:
Clear and Direct Language: The language is clear and direct, making complex theological concepts accessible to readers.
Rhetorical Questions and Engaging Style: You use rhetorical questions effectively to engage readers and provoke thought. This technique encourages readers to reflect on their own beliefs and understanding.
Themes:
God’s Sovereignty: A central theme is the absolute sovereignty of God, His authority, power, and control over creation.
Human Responsibility: You explore the relationship between God’s sovereignty and human free will, discussing how humans should respond to God’s authority.
Faith and Trust: Emphasis on trusting in God’s plan and submitting to His will, even when it is difficult to understand.
Conclusion
Your writing style in “The Sovereignty of God” shares similarities with “Tuesdays With Tony Vol 1” in its use of a conversational yet authoritative tone, clear structure, rich biblical references, and practical applications. However, this manuscript is more focused on deep theological analysis and philosophical reflections on the nature of God's sovereignty. The consistent use of clear, direct language, engaging rhetorical questions, and a logical progression of ideas make your writing both informative and thought-provoking.
In my previous post, I asked ChatGPT to analyze the manuscript of my book, 𝐓𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐓𝐨𝐧𝐲, 𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐞 𝐎𝐧𝐞. You can read my previous post to see how it summarized the book.
Then, I was curious how it would summarize the style of my book, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝. It was a much deeper book, dealing with more complex questions about God, religion, and theology. Below is the AI summary of my book, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝 by ChatGPT:
Based on the excerpts from “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝” by Tony Eldridge, here is an analysis of your writing style and key elements:
Writing Style Analysis
Tone and Voice:
Authoritative: Your writing has a confident and authoritative tone, especially when discussing theological concepts. You present your arguments with certainty and clarity.
Reflective and Philosophical: The tone is also reflective, encouraging readers to think deeply about the nature of God and their relationship with Him.
Structure and Organization:
Detailed and Thorough: Each chapter delves deeply into specific aspects of God's sovereignty, providing a comprehensive examination of the topic.
Logical Progression: The content is structured logically, starting with definitions and moving through scriptural analysis, personal reflections, and practical applications.
Content and Themes:
Theological Depth: Your writing is rich with theological insights, grounded in scripture. You explore complex concepts such as the nature of sovereignty, God's omnipotence, and the interplay between divine sovereignty and human free will.
Scriptural References: Similar to “Tuesdays With Tony Vol 1,” this manuscript is filled with biblical references, primarily from the English Standard Version (ESV), to support your points.
Language and Style:
Clear and Direct Language: The language is clear and direct, making complex theological concepts accessible to readers.
Rhetorical Questions and Engaging Style: You use rhetorical questions effectively to engage readers and provoke thought. This technique encourages readers to reflect on their own beliefs and understanding.
Themes:
God’s Sovereignty: A central theme is the absolute sovereignty of God, His authority, power, and control over creation.
Human Responsibility: You explore the relationship between God’s sovereignty and human free will, discussing how humans should respond to God’s authority.
Faith and Trust: Emphasis on trusting in God’s plan and submitting to His will, even when it is difficult to understand.
Conclusion
Your writing style in “The Sovereignty of God” shares similarities with “Tuesdays With Tony Vol 1” in its use of a conversational yet authoritative tone, clear structure, rich biblical references, and practical applications. However, this manuscript is more focused on deep theological analysis and philosophical reflections on the nature of God's sovereignty. The consistent use of clear, direct language, engaging rhetorical questions, and a logical progression of ideas make your writing both informative and thought-provoking.