Compassion And Grace

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 13th of November, 2022, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

“But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious,
Longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth.”
Psalm 86:15

“The Lord is merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.”
Psalm 103:8

Wow, isn’t that good to know? When people are so short-tempered and so condemning, we serve a God who is merciful, He is gracious and He is slow to anger. Merciful God, slow to anger, abounding in mercy!

Jesus had mercy on Simon Peter when he had denied the Lord three times and yet He still forgave him, and He still made him the head of the early church. Jesus had mercy on Paul who killed one of His special men, Stephen. He had mercy and He was gracious to him and used him to probably be the greatest evangelist to the whole world, that’s right!

The Lord uses people who repent. He has got lots of patience, so do not give up on someone when you think there is no hope for them. Remember how gracious Jesus has been to you and me. 

I love the story I heard about the President of America, Abraham Lincoln. He was a very tall man and extremely powerful. He came from a very humble beginning. He used to split poles. In those days they didn’t have barbed wire to make fences, so they put up railings with split poles and that was his job for a while. He would go to an agricultural show, take off his top hat and coattails, take an axe and beat everybody at the agricultural show in splitting wood. He was an immensely powerful man with huge hands and they say his hair was like wire when the hairdresser had to give him a haircut. 

There was one man in his government who hated Abraham Lincoln, so much so that he called him a gorilla. He said, “The way he walks, he lopes, he is like a gorilla!” Yet Abraham Lincoln had mercy on that man and put him in one of the key positions in his government. Abraham Lincoln was a great storyteller. He would be telling stories for the men and this guy would get up and walk out in disgust. When Abraham Lincoln died, he was assassinated. He wasn’t even 60 years old when they shot him. At his funeral, that minister broke down and wept like a baby.  

I want to say to you today, extend compassion and grace just like Jesus has for you and me.

Have a wonderful Sunday.
Jesus bless you and goodbye.