Indian River has several ice cream shops, and I recommend you try them all. Summer is here a little while longer, and we should enjoy some cool, tasty treats before school starts again.
Speaking of school and ice cream, I once gave a talk to a group of elementary students about God’s mercy and grace. You can find these jewels of God’s character throughout Scripture. Psalm 103:8 states plainly: “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”
See how the verse defines mercy and grace for us? “The LORD is merciful” means He is “slow to anger.” Though we fail Him, God is patient; He is longsuffering. When we believe Jesus took the judgment for our sin, God does not give us the punishment our sin deserves. Instead, He gives us mercy.
Now grace is similar. We see how the LORD is “gracious” in that He is “abounding in steadfast love.” We are sinners, but God has committed Himself to love and bless us. And not just sometimes when we’re good—no, His love is “steadfast.” He is forever loyal and dedicated to extending His great, “abounding” love toward us who believe!
I wanted to take these tremendous truths, and boil them down to a grade schooler’s level. So, I compared mercy and grace to vanilla and chocolate ice cream. Both are delicious; both are sweet and yummy. I asked them, “ok, which would you rather have—mercy or grace?” Then I told them the best news: you don’t have to choose. God offers you both mercy and grace!
Just then, some high school kids brought in bowls of vanilla-chocolate swirl ice cream, and we all got to taste and see two blessings combined. Mercy or grace? Praise God, we don’t have to choose.
