How much time do you spend thinking about the mercy of God? If you are like me, not enough! God is holy, and His standard for our lives is holiness. (1 Peter 1:15-16; Leviticus 19:2) Not one of us can measure up to that. Every one of us has sinned and fallen short of the standard. (Romans 3:23) The penalty for such failure is death. (Romans 6:23) Those are God’s rules, and if we don’t like them, then we don’t understand what it means to be holy.
Holiness cannot tolerate sin because if it did, that holiness would be lost. (Habakkuk 1:13; Psalm 5:4-5) As sinful beings, we then have no hope of escaping God’s judgment. (Hebrews 9:27; Romans 2:5-6) No hope, that is, except for the mercy of God. He loves us so much that He made a way to deliver us from His just wrath and punishment. (Romans 5:8-9; Ephesians 2:4-5)