The Sea is Wide - God's Mercy is Wider

Romans 12:1-2


1-2 With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers, as an act of intelligent worship, to give him your bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to him and acceptable by him. Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God re-mold your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.


Last week we focused on this part of Romans 12:

Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God re-mold your minds from within.

Remember the cookie cutter analogy?  We talked about NOT becoming a cookie-cutter sinner, but focusing on how God wants us to walk with him towards the goal of true maturity.

Let's look at the opening phrase, "With eyes wide open to the mercies of God."  It's easy to overlook this, isn't it?  I rush to see the rest of the sentence.  But let's slow down, and let's look with eyes wide open.  What are God's mercies?  Don't we say every Sunday "have mercy on me, a sinner?"  How dare we claim his mercy?  Have we earned it?  Can we ever, possibly, be 'good enough?'  Of course not.  As Pastor Steve said last Sunday, Jesus doesn't say "try harder."  He says, "come closer."

This phrase draws me to an old hymn, written more than 150+ years ago by an Englishman, Frederick Faber, who converted to Catholicism after spending some time as an Episcopal priest.  I wonder if he had this verse in mind when he wrote these words:

There's a wideness in God's mercy, like the wideness of the sea.
There's a kindness in His justice, which is more than liberty.

Here's a youtube video of the tune that I remember being connected to this hymn (If you go on Youtube, you'll find lots of variations, and many of them are really beautiful.  This is the one I resonate with.)

Let the words sink in - God's mercies are as wide as the sea.  That, my friends, is wide indeed.  Let's make it our goal this week to open our eyes wide to God's mercies.  They are all around us:  in nature, in our friends, even strangers.  Allow his mercies to enfold you - soak them up as they rain down on you.  He is good; he is just; and he is merciful.