Setting off fireworks after a home team hits a home run is nothing new in pro baseball stadiums, but igniting fireworks after the visiting team hits a homer? No way! But in a game between two major league baseball teams, after a player on the visiting team hit a baseball over the outfield fence for a home run, the fireworks guy mistakenly pushed a button that created a spectacular pyrotechnic display.
A video of the unidentified fireworks guy being booed and trying to hide his shame behind his hat went viral. Surprisingly, the home team chose not to heap more shame on their employee. They tweeted a clip from the movie Dumb and Dumber in which Jim Carrey says: “Pardon me, Mr. Perfect! I guess I forgot you never make a mistake!”
Similar to that home team, we have a heavenly Father who shows us love and mercy—not condemnation. When David wrote Psalm 103, he described God as a merciful and compassionate Father (Psalm 103:8). Despite human inconsistency, God extends His grace to us (Numbers 14:18; Psalm 86:15). This steadfast love didn’t eliminate God’s righteous anger, but it limited it (Psalm 103:4,8,11). His love bridged the great chasm between Himself and those who do not know Him. The reason for God’s mercy toward us is because He’s aware of our frailty and limitations (Psalm 103:14). Instead of heaping shame on us, He lovingly provides our rescue.
Unlike the fireworks guy, we’ve all intentionally “set off fireworks” of sin that make us want to hide from God—feeling fear, guilt, and condemnation. But our heavenly Father doesn’t condemn us; He has mercy on us. In response to His mercy, let’s admit our frailty, receive our Father’s steadfast love, and, as His children, choose to obey Him out of love.
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Acts 12:1-25
More:
Read 1 John 1:9 and consider what God provides for those who turn to Him in repentance.
Next:
In what ways can you identify with the fireworks guy? How does it make you feel to know that God understands your human frailty and has mercy on you?
godlove on October 27, 2016 at 4:41 am
What an awesome God we serve, by His very nature is merciful and patient with us. Scripture is packed full with accounts of God’s patience with the rebellious heart of man. It’s so humbling that we have a loving and merciful God who never chooses to heap shame on us when we fail Him, but rather like the loving Father that He is, provides our rescue through His Son. I think it would be unfair towards the fireworks guy for me to try to identify with him; he had been doing his job perfectly, probably for years, but that one time he mistakenly pushed the button he embarrassed himself, meanwhile I feel embarrassment almost everyday from my sins. But I praise God that we have a high priest who understands our weaknesses, such that we can come to His throne of grace with confidence and receive the mercy and grace which we so desperately need (Hebrews 4:15-16). Thank you for today’s devotional, Marvin. May we all find grace and mercy from the Lord today.
gagirllive on October 27, 2016 at 6:33 am
Appreciate that High Priest reference, godlove. We are studying the book of Hebrews in our small group, and it is so encouraging to know that we have an empathetic as well as merciful Savior! God bless you, dear brother.
marvin williams on October 27, 2016 at 11:03 pm
gagirllive, Jesus is a high priest who feels our weakness and frailties. He is able to give us strength in our weakness. I thank God for you and your words here. Grace and peace.
marvin williams on October 27, 2016 at 11:00 pm
godlove, I thank God for your response here. When I think about God’s amazing grace and brand new mercies each morning, I am humbled beyond words. I, too, am glad that our Father doesn’t heap shame on us. I am grateful that you added your voice here. Grace and peace.
gagirllive on October 27, 2016 at 5:42 am
Considering how the guy was booed and how the story went viral, I’m really surprised how gracious his team was to him on social media, Marvin. (Hooray for the home team!) Poor guy. It’s pretty brutal out there these days when our failures are posted on the world wide web for all to see…and judge. I often have to remind myself that God is not like us. “The LORD is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.” (v. 8) And I’m so grateful He is! I get so tired of struggling with my flesh. Like Paul describes his own frustration in Romans 7, time and again I find myself doing the things I don’t want to do—setting off fireworks of sin in my life. I never want to be cavalier about the grace and mercy of God. I am deeply thankful and comforted by the truth that He is not mad at me and I don’t have to hide from Him because I’ve messed up again. Who is like Him? “How many times can I apply 1 John 1: 9 to my life? How many times can I cling to Romans 8: 1? Surely there is a limit, even for God!” I’m pretty sure that I’m not alone in these thoughts that have passed through my mind from time to time. It’s just that His grace is so—what’s the word? Amazing! 🙂 His love and mercy—so scandalous! Who:else is like Him? Yes, there will be a constant struggle as long as I am in this flesh, but Christ has broken the POWER of cancelled sin in my life! Hallelujah! This week I’ve been memorizing Philippians 2: 12-13. It says, “Put into action God’s saving work in your lives, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey Him and the power to do what pleases Him.” Amen! He is the One who gives both the will and the way. He puts the super in my natural. 🙂 It’s all about Christ in me—the hope of glory. Blessed be His name forever! I needed this today, Marvin. Thank you. Peace and joy to all.
minkjh on October 27, 2016 at 2:49 pm
Hi gagirllive. I really appreciate your perspectives on being cavalier about grace and mercy, and also the I John 1:9 question. Very profound and food for thought. The first one reminds me of an episode recounted by the early 20th century Christian speaker S. D. Gordon who was participating with several other clergy to address a large congregation when he stated: “I asked one of them (clergy) to run his eye over the house and tell me what sort of congregation it was….He did so, and replied he thought fully two-thirds of them were church members. But you know as well as I do that not half of them are Christians worth counting”. Sadly, not much has changed in this day and age. There are so many folks who rely on the grace and mercy part but ignore the condition that Psalm 103 mentions more than once in 22 verses- ‘those who fear him’. Jesus emphasized its importance perfectly when he concluded his remarks to the woman caught in adultery with the words ‘go and sin no more’. God does not provide grace and mercy for me to abuse as though I have some sort of perpetual get-out-of-jail-free card to show him. I lost count years ago of my myriad transgressions and wondered about I John 1:9 as do you but if our confession leads to true repentance and obedience, then we have the assurance that the perfect righteousness of Christ will be reckoned to our account. We need to work constantly on the obedience part which is difficult for fallen creatures to do with consistency.
gagirllive on October 27, 2016 at 4:02 pm
Amen, minkjh! You are so right about the fear of the Lord! That’s what the verse I’m memorizing speaks of as well—“obeying God with deep reverence and fear…”. It convicts me every time I say it. When I think about the times that I commit presumptuous sins—you know, those sins that we willfully forge ahead and do, knowing full well that it’s wrong, presuming upon God’s grace and mercy after the deed is done. Lord, help us! I plead like David in Psalm 19: 13—“Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me; then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.” I think that sometimes in our effort to proclaim the mercy and grace of God (and rightly so we must!), we under-emphasize our responsibility to WALK in the holiness and righteousness that has been imparted to us, of course, only by the power of the Holy Spirit—which means living in submission to His will, not ours. We just can’t presume upon this wonderful gift of grace. Paul spent considerable time teaching that grace does not give us a license to sin. We need to be so very careful to revere Christ as the Lord and Master over our lives that He is! When we mess up (and we will), we need godly sorrow which leads to true repentance.Thank you so much for making this sobering point, brother. You are a blessing here!
godlove on October 27, 2016 at 7:19 pm
Gagirl, you are certainly not alone in those thoughts, I am right there with ya (as you would say) 🙂 Those thoughts don’t pass through my mind from time to time, they pass through my mind all the time, every time I sin. As I confess to God and plead for his mercy and forgiving grace, I always wonder how far is too far for God and whether He isn’t tired of having me come to Him to confess the same sins over and over again. Thank you for sharing that encouraging verse from Philippians; I will try to memorise it too, with the faith that the fear of God will lead me to total obedience in Christ, and the desire to obey Him and do what pleases Him will be strong enough to help me overcome my own presumptuous sins. Be blessed, sister.
gagirllive on October 27, 2016 at 8:33 pm
Thank you, godlove. I think the key lies in the verse I’m working on memorizing. As I’ve been meditating on it, I am certainly convicted about obeying God with deep reverence and fear. But I’m also incredibly encouraged by the second half that tells me that God is working in me, giving me the desire and power to do what pleases Him. Conviction, brokenness, genuine mourning over our sin, and true repentance is God at work in us! He’s not looking for perfection from us. He’s looking for surrender and submission—which by His grace, He even supplies that through the power of the Holy Spirit as we yield to Him. So friend, encourage yourself in this truth as I am. As His children, I don’t believe we can ever exhaust His grace toward us. Remember, Jesus is the one who taught 70× 7! Another thing is I’ve had to be completely honest with myself and God about my presumptuous sin—I do it because I love it. It’s idolatrous, isn’t it? I think our dear sister Kim called it her “pet sin”. There’s no other way to deal with it besides putting it to death. “Mortifying the sins of the flesh”, we are told. If I were to disclose my “pet sin”, most Christians would think, “Oh, that’s nothing.” But it is something. All sin is an offense to God, and it is something that nailed Jesus to the cross. And it is something that grieves the Holy Spirit. And it is something that breaks my fellowship with Christ. I don’t need to make it respectable. 🙂 So kindred spirit friend (yikes! didn’t mean for this to get this long), pray for me as I pray for you. Stay in the fight. He is giving us the desire and the power to obey Him. He is our Victorious Warrior! Be encouraged.
marvin williams on October 27, 2016 at 11:08 pm
I am grateful for your responses here. It is filled with spiritual nuggets. Philippians 2:12-13 are two of my favorite verses. He is working in us to conform us to the image of Jesus. I am so grateful for his love and patience. Grace and peace to you.
Gary Shultz on October 27, 2016 at 5:42 am
That is correct Godlove, “may we find grace and mercy” we must or we would be consumed. It has always amazed me how God plans for everything, He has planned for our us being human beans. The only way I can live with the courage to move on with Him is to know He has moved on with us. He sees the future, He holds the future, and He has taken responsibility to get us/me there. I will admit, I would rather walk into God’s future presence then be dragged there, but perfection escapes us all, I’m pretty sure of that. So I don’t like that I sin, but as Paul goes through that classic section with the description of the battle to do the right. God hath provided again and on that we take another step with Him. Thanks Marvin
marvin williams on October 27, 2016 at 11:12 pm
Gary, I love that God is patient with me. I blow it – sometimes unintentionally and other times intentionally. But, God is longsuffering and he walks with us through these times of struggle and striving with sin. I am glad that I am not the only one. Grace and peace.
Gary Shultz on October 27, 2016 at 6:01 am
GG good to see you up and at’m. We must have been posting together because I did not see your post before. I am happy to hear that the ODJ group got together. I wonder if the foreign diplomats flew in? They are such a wonderful group of godly people. Of course by now some of them know the flavors that we all come in. So in keeping with my flavor I am going to give them a little encouragement to reply to the readers when they can. I know it is a busy world out there, but it brings such completion to the whole post for the day when the authors respond. Some of them have been so delightfully good about that, but we with anticipation we’ll hope to be encouraged more and more, and we return the thanks to them. Have a good extended day GG. Thanks ODJ authors.
gagirllive on October 27, 2016 at 6:24 am
Lol…yes, I’m usually up pretty early but don’t go online until later. Thought I’d surprise you today. 🙂 You know, I, too, was encouraged to learn that the writers of ODB/ODJ met together. Too bad they didn’t invite us! 🙂 They really are all wonderful godly people and, Iike you, I feel it’s extra special when we hear back from them on the forum. Some days it’s just so quiet—I feel like we’re out here in cyberspace by ourselves! So thank you for poking at them from time to time to remember to check in on us. (Shh…who knows? They might hear us talking behind their backs this morning and weigh in today.) 🙂 A good extended day to you too, dear brother!
dondavis777 on October 27, 2016 at 6:11 am
Woe is me, This AWESOME LOVE, GRACE & MERCY THAT HE pours out on me, when I deserve the opposite melts me. Dear Lord please let me have the same grace & mercy toward others. But I can not do this on my own. Please be my strength to let go of the me, myself & I. other words that, I would decrease & You would Increase. Apart from you I can do nothing. Lord I need a savor every day all day. Use me as a vessel to flow though, & that I would not get in the way.
gagirllive on October 27, 2016 at 6:27 am
Amen, dondavis777! I’m right there with ya!
sim jing ying on October 27, 2016 at 9:01 am
Thanks for the sharing and a really good analogy. The firework guy was one of many unforseen mistake so it’s normal to feel ashamed but by God’s grace we are quickly healed in His name. I feel normal to carry out my life knowing of the God’s loving assurance for me.
marvin williams on October 27, 2016 at 11:14 pm
sim jing ying, yes, we are normal. I love the way the home crowd gave him a second chance. Their response to him IS a great illustration of what God does for us. Let’s keep walking with Jesus and encouraging one another to be holy. Grace and peace.
youssef1777 on October 27, 2016 at 9:48 am
THAT WHY WE SHOULD TRUST IN THE LORD . THAT GIVE PEACE , JOY AND COMFORT TO OUR HEART .
marvin williams on October 27, 2016 at 11:16 pm
youssef1, yes, you are right. He is the only one who can redeem, forgive and cover our sin, guilt and shame. Grace and peace.