God's undeserved mercy

"You have said, `It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.' "

Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name.

"They will be mine," says the LORD Almighty, "in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not (Malachi 3:14-18).

Through the prophet Malachi, God expresses His anger at the Israelites for their many sins. In chapter one, He confronts His people about their half-hearted commitment to worship and the cheapness of the offerings that they brought to God’s house. In chapter two, the Lord criticizes them for sampling the teachings of false religions instead of studying the Scriptures and for their willingness to treat divorce as something acceptable. Then in chapter three, God turns to the issue of human complaining: "You have said, `It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.' "

I have a hunch that at some point in your life, you have voiced this same complaint. What is the point of serving God? I have given up all sorts of things for Him. I could have slept in on Sunday mornings. I could have watched football games instead of sitting in church meetings. I could have more money saved up or invested if I hadn’t put it in the collection plate. I could have avoided the humiliation of having to say that I was sorry when I could have lied and blamed what I did on someone else. I could have slept around instead of saving sex for after the start of marriage. I could have had so much more fun with my friends if I hadn’t insisted on acting like a Christian. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty?

And for all I have given up, done without, what have I gotten from God in return? How is my life any better than the lives of the unbelievers? Many unbelievers tell lie after lie, and they get elected to positions of political power. Many unbelievers are rich; they don’t let moral scruples interfere with doing business, and look at how they prosper! There are many who are Mormons or followers of Mohammed or who claim that there is no god at all, and their groups are growing while we Christians are constantly insulted and increasingly deprived of our religious rights. But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.

It’s true—the world is a frustrating place in which to live. But this does not mean that God is uncaring or that He is not in control. Remember Jesus’ words: You have heard that it was said, `Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5:43-45). Good things happen to bad people because God loves them too. St. Peter tells us, The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). In Acts 17:27, Paul says that God desires that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. It is said that you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar; the good Lord is generous in giving honey to unbelievers, hoping that by showing them His love they might come to love Him in return.

This kind of behavior on God’s part frustrates us sometimes. We would much rather that God show His terrible anger and bring swift justice than to be patient and generous with mercy. But thank heavens that God does not act on a short fuse! If God punished sin as quickly and severely as we sometimes think He should, what would be the consequence for us? Don’t we sin every day? Don’t we give in to the same sinful temptations over and over again, year after year? Do we not sometimes insist for days, weeks, or even longer, that we are in the right, when deep down inside we know that we’ve done wrong? Of course. And how terrible it would be for us if God were swift and merciless in punishing us for our sins!

But He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. That is why He sent His only Son into this sin-sick word. Jesus came to us in patient, generous love. It is true that we frustrate Him—at one point Jesus said, O unbelieving and perverse generation…how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? (Matthew 17:17) And yet immediately following this expression of frustration, Jesus showed His continuing love for us by healing a child. Jesus’ love for us is so great that it led Him to patiently endure the agony of the cross, that He could win for us freedom from the domination of sin, it’s burden of guilt, and it’s sentence of everlasting death. And Jesus generously offers His gift of salvation to everyone, asking only that we pledge ourselves to Him alone as our leader through life.

However, it is a sad reality that many, perhaps most, choose to ignore or reject Jesus. And while Jesus is patient, there is a time limit attached to His generous offer of undeserved mercy. God says, you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not. That distinction will be made plain at the Day of Judgement. Jesus said, When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:31-32).

What will be the basis for making this distinction? In the revelation given him of the last day, St. John saw: each person was judged according to what he had done (Revelation 20:13). Jesus also speaks of this: a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear [the Son of Man’s] voice and come out--those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned (John 5:28-29).

Does this mean that Jesus will have some sort of scale before Him, where He puts all our sins on one side, all our good deeds on the other, and waits to see which way the scale tips? Absolutely not! If Jesus decided our eternal fate in this way, then we would all be bound for hell. Jesus summed God’s expectations for our behavior this way: `Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment (Matthew 22:37-38). If you look back on your life and compare how much of it has been totally dedicated to God and how much of it has been focused on yourself, you know that the scale must tip immediately towards damnation.

But Jesus will not evaluate our lives this way. When we ask Jesus to have mercy on us, the record of our sins is erased. In Isaiah 43:25 God says, I am he who blots out your transgressions…and remembers your sins no more. St. Peter urges, Repent…and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out (Acts 3:19). Paul speaks of baptism recreating us as newborn children, freed from the mistakes of the past: We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life (Romans 6:2-4).

When Judgment Day comes and Jesus reviews every moment of our lives, there will be no record of any sin for those who believe in Him and seek His mercy; everything negative will be blotted out, wiped away. All that will remain is the record of our faith in Jesus, and no matter how little that record of faith is, it will be enough, because whoever believes and is baptized will be saved (Mark 16:16). And because of that wonderful generosity of our Lord, we will hear His invitation: Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world (Matthew 25:34).

We must note that Jesus will not use a set of scales to evaluate the unbelievers either. When a person does not believe in Jesus, nothing that they do has any worth in God’s eyes. Paul warns, those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God (Romans 8:8). When unbelievers stand before the Throne of Judgment there will be nothing from their lives that can be used to back up a plea for Jesus’ mercy, because without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Instead, all that Jesus will consider is a lifetime of selfishness, hatred, lust and dishonesty, and the sentence will be terrible: Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41).

Heaven and hell. Here is the ultimate distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not. Those who are righteous, because Jesus has gifted them with forgiveness, will enjoy eternity in heaven. Those who served God during their brief years on earth will experience unending joy, complete relief from worry and pain and sorrow, and will never be lonely again—because they will be with every Christian who has ever lived. Best of all, they will see Jesus as He really is, and know the delight of living in perfect love. But the wicked, those who spurned Jesus and denied that they needed His mercy, will be plunged into everlasting hell. Those who did not serve God will experience unending fear and pain and despair, an eternal existence made all the more horrible because there will be no hope for relief, not the least bit of love or care from anyone; their only company will be the horrible screams of the damned.

Let us not complain about God’s patience and generosity. It is because of His love that He tells us, They will be mine…in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. We are blessed with the Lord’s lavish mercy; let us never begrudge His goodness to others. When the right time comes, you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.