Christ’s Love Breaks Through Our Selfish Sight

8/14 Reading Portions: 1 Samuel 4; Romans 4; Jeremiah 42; Psalm 18

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8/14 Reading Portions: 1 Samuel 4; Romans 4; Jeremiah 42; Psalm 18

Psalm 18:25

With the merciful You show Yourself merciful; with the blameless man You show Yourself blameless;

BLAMELESS

Certainly, we recognize that the unsaved soul sees God through perverse eyes. The next verse tells us,

with the purified You show Yourself pure; and with the crooked You make Yourself seem tortuous. Psalm 18:26, emphasis added

There is no light in the unbeliever to see God as gracious, kind, loving, and merciful. They are unregenerate. Their deeds are evil since, spiritually, they are dead in trespasses and sins. If they never receive the grace and goodness of God through salvation found in Jesus Christ alone, they will receive the judgment they rightly deserve for the sins they’ve committed against a holy God. We were no different from them. We don’t deserve God’s favor; and did nothing to attain it, else it would not be grace. And though you and I are saved by grace, because of the corruptions still remaining in our mortal flesh, we may foster a crooked perspective and see things askew when the eyes of our faith are not gazing upon the truth of Christ Jesus and His atoning sacrifice. Our flesh will blame God for not saving others when we deem it urgent; or blame Him for not acting according to our plans and purposes instead of His sovereign will and good pleasure (remember that Adam blamed God in the garden, Gen 3:12). When our spiritual eyes glance away from the full mercy of God through the cross of Christ Jesus, we may not see the blessed, magnificent, and merciful character of our God and Savior. We must have one eye on sin and one eye on the cross. Our sins against God reveal our wretchedness. Christ’s sacrifice for our sins reveals His mercy, love, and grace. The simultaneous view of both reveals the priceless value of who Christ is and what He has done. If we trust Christ to keep us in the grip of grace by His cross, we will trust Him as sovereign over all things, holy and blameless in every detail of His work to be meted out from the palm of His nail-pierced hand. Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Sometimes we do not see God’s love,
His mercy, we can’t view;
Christ’s cross reveal’d by God above
Will make His love break through.