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(77) To give knowledge of salvation to His people
By the remission of their sins, (78) Through the tender mercy of our
God, With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; (79) To give
light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our
feet into the way of peace." New
King James Version Change your email Bible version
Micah 7:18 adds, "Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity
and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not
retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy." God is love,
and love is kind, but perhaps our approach to His forgiveness has been
prosaically legal. The Scriptures reveal that God does kindness
with intensity of will and readiness of mind. He forgives with all His heart
because He delights in mercy! He says, "I have no pleasure in the death of him
that dies." God's nature works to give mercy, not punish; to create beauty, not
destroy; to save, not lose.
Can we not see a lesson in this? Are we anywhere near God's image in this?
How many of us, fellowshipping among God's people, are hiding resentment and
bearing the seeds of bitterness against a brother because of some offense—or
carrying a grudge, or filled with envy, or communicating gossip? Are these
things acts of kindness? Does a forgiving spirit that delights in mercy enter
into acts that destroy a brother's reputation and widen existing divisions?
One other phrase in Luke 1:78 shows the kind and tender nature of our God: "He
visited us." God did not merely pity us from a distance, nor did He allow His
compassion for us to remain as an unresolved, inactive feeling. David writes in
Psalm 8:4, "What is man that you are mindful of him, and the
son of man that You visit him?" But God did just that!
Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself
likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the
power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed he does not give aid to
angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He
had to be made like his brethren, that He might be a merciful
and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for
the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He
is able to aid those who are tempted. (Hebrews 2:14-18)
God has not merely pitied us from a distance, but He has entered into life,
our life, on our level. The Creator stooped from His high and pure abode as
glorious God, and veiled His divinity for an abode of animated clay. He assumed
our nature, was tempted in all things like us, took our sicknesses, and bore our
infirmities for the express purpose of being a merciful and faithful High
Priest. He did not enter into our world and yet maintain a status superior to
us. He truly walked in our shoes and still went about doing good.
Christ, Paul adds in Galatians 1:4, "gave Himself for our sins, that He might
deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and
Father." Who knows how many individual acts of kindness—from the conception of
the plan to its fulfillment—are contained within this simple statement?
This is the heart of God's nature. He generously and mercifully gives that
others might benefit. Now, because of what He did, this nature is growing in us.
By His Spirit He has taken His abode in us to enable us to work out our
salvation, and as we yield, our lives are changing, gradually conforming to His
image. He dwells in us despite all our provocations, stubbornness, neglect, and
rebellions. How often we must disappoint Him, and yet as our High Priest and
Intercessor, He stands ever ready to serve us with yet more kindness.
— John W. Ritenbaugh
To learn more, see:
The Fruit of the Spirit: Kindness
Related Topics:
Forgiveness
Forgiving Attitude
Forgiving Others
God's Compassion
God's Kindness
God's Love
God's Mercy
God's Nature
Grace
Grudge
Mercy
Pity
Salvation
Unity
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