'There is more mercy in Christ than sin is us' (Richard Sibbes).

Yesterday I felt led to tell our congregation that their inner dialogue may be wrong.  You see, as Martyn Lloyd-Jones pointed out, many of our problems are rooted in the fact that we listen to ourselves too much and don't speak to ourselves enough.  We need to speak words of gracious truth to ourselves.

Many Christians spend their lives in self-condemnation.  They have this nagging feeling that God is perpetually disappointed with them.  But that is just not true!  He has never regretted accepting you as an adopted child.  He knew, when he brought you into his family, what lay ahead in your life.  He knew your future sins and covered those failings in grace.  Yes, we grieve the Spirit when our words are not aimed at building up our brothers and sisters (Ephesians 4:29-30), but even when we sin, he has compassion on us.

I was thinking about these things this morning and wondered if they are really true.  Maybe I am selling too optimistic a view of God!  Immediately a verse came into my mind.  It when Jesus has denied Jesus and Luke tells us that 'the Lord looked at Peter' (Luke 22:61).

Jesus had predicted Peter's fall and had prayed for him.  He also knew that Peter would be restored and would then strengthen the church from a place of grace.  When Jesus looked at Peter it was with eyes of compassion.  Even in our greatest moments of moral failure Jesus' heart of love goes out to us.  He pities us in our weakness.  He rejoices in us when we turn back to him.  He is always glad that we are his children.         

The puritan, Richard Sibbes, wrote, 'there is more mercy in Christ than there is sin in us.'