Wednesday in The Word-Deserve Mercy?

Have you ever thought after reading your daily devotional, "WOW" God must have wrote that just for me to read that day? Recently my devotional was on "Mercy". Which was something that I was finding really hard on that particular day to extend? Just like God to allow me to READ just what I needed that day huh? 

Story goes like this.....John had served on the seas since the age of 11. His father had trained him well for a life in the Royal Navy. Although his training would have qualified him to serve as an officer, his behavior caused him to be flogged and demoted. He mocked authority, ran with the wrong crowd and indulged in the sinful ways of the world.

At the age of 21 John made his living on the Greyhound, a slave ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean. He ridiculed and poked fun at the religious. He even made jokes about a book that would reshape his life: The Imitation of Christ. 

One night, just mere hours after John had degraded the book mentioned, the seas became the enemy. As the waters gushed and the boat was tossed and turned, John slept.

He awoke to the find his cabin filled with water and the side of the boat had collapsed. For nine hours John worked on the pumps along with the other sailors trying to keep the boat from sinking. John realized it was to no avail.

He threw himself on the saltwater-soaked deck and pleaded, "If this will not do, then LORD have mercy on us all."

John didn't deserve mercy but he received it!

He never forgot God's mercy. He returned to England where he became a powerful Pulpiteer and a prolific composer.

You may have sung his songs, like this one....

Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me......

In the last years of John Newton's life someone asked him about his health. He confessed that his powers were failing and memory was almost gone. But he said, "but I remember two things: I am a great sinner and Jesus is a great Savior." 

What about you? Do you struggle with showing mercy to those whom you feel does not deserve it? One thing I do know....I can't do anything on my own. Only through the power of the Holy Spirit can I be what He desires. I am grateful that Christ did not give me what I deserved! How about you? May we all just take a moment and reflect on....MERCY!

Eph 2:3-5 (NIV) ...Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.

Linking up with Miss Kathy 
I am enjoying her http://www.thewritersreverie.com/2014/03/all-things-bright-beautiful-link-up-1.html

  Hugs and blessings, Cindy