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Showing posts from July, 2023

"I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy." Is God's mercy predictable?

Introduction I have heard someone say on her deathbed, "I didn't obtain mercy from God", because she could not receive her healing. It was heart-breaking, to say the least. A lot of people think that God shows mercy to people randomly. That is, if you are lucky He will show you mercy, and if you are not...well, bad luck! This post was written to clarify the predictability of God's mercy. Can we be sure of obtaining His mercy, or we have to wish to Heaven that He's in the "mercy mood" whenever we need mercy? Why people think God's mercy is arbitrary In Romans 9:15, it is written, For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy , and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion . Some have taken this to mean that God arbitrarily decides who and when to show mercy. But this fails a major test of scripture, which is, "by the mouth of two or three witnesses every matter shall be established." (2 Corinthian...

"Why call Me good?" Discovering the Source of Goodness

And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. Mark 10:18 (KJV). In the text above, Jesus asked a rhetoric question, “Why do you call me Good?” And then He went on to drop the bomb, “Only God is good!” With the help of the Holy Spirit, we shall examine these statements, so we can understand and live in the light of what our Lord is trying to pass across to us.   1. What is goodness? In this context, good is an adjective describing a person, who is acting in the interest of what is beneficial toward His creation. Other words we can use, especially when applied to God’s acts and works: pleasant, dependable, capable, effective, satisfying, enjoyable, favorable, worthwhile, adequate, sufficient, reasonable, decent.   2. “Why call me Good?” (Meditation) Jesus challenged the young ruler, “Why do you call Me good?” Any ideas why the ruler called Him good?  Why do we call people good? Why did Jesus ask this question?  What was H...