According to His Own Mercy
Titus 3:3-7 says,
When we gather on Sunday mornings, we do so as heirs of God's promises. We do so as children of God. We do so as those justified by the grace of God. We do so as those regenerated and renewed by the Holy Spirit. We do so as former slaves now set free. We do so as former haters now able to love one another. We do so as those rescued out of darkness and washed clean by the blood of Christ. And all of this is not by anything we did for ourselves, but only by the the mercy of God.
Is that how you think of yourself when you hear that alarm go off on Sunday mornings? Is that how you think of yourself as you try to find your kids' shoes? Is that how you think of yourself as you iron your clothes (or throw them in the dryer on the dewrinkle cycle) on Saturday night?
All to often, that's not how I think of myself. I swing back and forth from being more aware of my weakness and failures than the mercy of God to being more confident in my own merits than I ought.
God has made abundantly clear that there is nothing I can do to earn His favor or lose his love. It's in the unmerited, undeserved mercy of God through Christ that we stand, that we come to worship each week. It's the free mercy and grace of God that we celebrate each week. And this Sunday is no exception, as we'll be led by a band of young adults from Oklahoma Baptist University coming of Dare2Share weekend. Here are the songs and Scriptures that will make up this week's service:
Here's the Spotify of this week's songs. We hope you'll listen so you can worship the Lord in an undistracted way on Sunday!