Salvation | a 5-Day Skate Church Movement Devotionalნიმუში

Grace and Mercy

“The Lord is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. The Lord is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all His creation.” Psalm 145:8-9

Life is full of ups and downs. We all fall and make mistakes along the way. One of the most common tools of the enemy is to use shame to keep us from believing that we are worthy of God, His promises, or His blessings. What is so crazy about this thought and this lie, is that God is actually all-knowing. He has existed from the beginning of time, and He already knows everything we have ever done or will do, yet He still loves us the same. There is nothing we can do to make God love us less, and there is nothing we can do to make God love us more. His love for us is perfect.

As skaters, the passion and desire to land a trick can be so strong that it will override fear or the pain that comes from the act of repeatedly falling, but we continue to push ourselves because the feeling we get when we roll away from that trick is worth every hour practicing, every slam taken, or every injury incurred. It might be hard to believe, but God loves you exponentially more than that! Just like with skateboarding, God knew when He created mankind that we would fall. The Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 that ALL have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, and in Romans chapter 1, Paul also writes that we “are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful.” He says that we invent new ways of sinning, and we disobey our parents. We refuse to understand, break our promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. We know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet we do them anyway. Worse yet, we encourage others to do them, too. Heavy, right?! This is each and every one of us in some way. Yet, this is the very reason why God sent His son, Jesus, to die on the cross for us. This is where grace and mercy come into the picture.

Ephesians 2:4-5 tells us, “God is so rich in mercy, and He loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead. It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!” MERCY is the act of God NOT giving us what we deserve: death. GRACE is the act of God giving us something we DON’T deserve: life!

I have been skateboarding for almost 20 years now and have ridden for some really cool brands and shops along the way. But when I started into my late twenties, I faced the harsh realization that I had grown to know of God, but I didn’t really know Him personally. I thought that because I went to church, it made me right with God, but I didn’t have the relationship with Him that I would have liked. It wasn’t long until I came to the understanding that God wanted me to come as I was and that I didn’t have to get myself together to have a relationship with Him. This is the Good News for each of us: that God continues to show us mercy and grace while He gives us second, third, and even fourth chances! Just like when we fall skating and get back up, each time rising a bit stronger, this is what God is inviting each of us to do after the mistakes that we might make. Just like the progression of skateboarding never ends, the same is true with the grace and mercy from God.

Pushing Further

Do you feel like you have experienced God’s grace and mercy in your own life?