Welcome to 2021. Thank you my amazing reader who remained with me despite my inconsistency. I hope and pray that this year shall be a better year in blogging. 2020 showed us flames, didn’t it? We didn’t see it coming, there was no forewarning at all. Due to Covid-19, many died, many lost their jobs while many are still on the hospital beds. Some of us haven’t even moved near a church building since April. And now it seems we have moved into a new year with Coivd-19 still on everybody’s lips. As the human beings that we are, we have found a way to adjust; we have found a way to continue our regular lives despite the numerous restraints. Many of us who still believe in new year resolutions have drawn out some for 2021. Even those who don’t do new year resolutions have made plans for the new year.
Despite the air of uncertainty still looming around us, some people have already resumed the race– the rat race for productivity and attainments. I am certainly one of those people. There’s just no time to retreat into idleness. There are just so many applications to make, emails to send, proposals to write and businesses to launch. However, recently, I felt the Lord whisper to me: it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy (Romans 9:16). This was something I didn’t learn quite well in 2020. Despite the tumultuous experiences of 2020, it didn’t sink into me that my efforts were not enough to take me to where I wanted to be. I had banked so much on my moral sweat and willpower. Now I am re-learning the unreliability of human efforts and surrendering to God’s prerogative of mercy. Jesus wanted us to understand this principle of mercy and effort so much that he repeated the words of prophet Hosea who “desired mercy and not sacrifice”(Hosea 6:6; Matt. 9:13). This is not to say that I am going to sit idly and unambitiously; rather, it is that I have a new disposition toward the idea of the exertion of labour. I am resolved to seek God’s mercy on a daily basis in 2021 because, really, we are at His mercy. For I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion (Romans 9:15). While this scripture might sound a bit absurd or totalitarian in the ears of some sceptics, it accentuates our human fragility disguised as self-sufficiency. It also reminds us of God’s sovereignty over us. And the thing about God’s sovereignty is that it is trustworthy and reliable. No matter how our minds try to reject the idea of God’s mercy, deep down our souls is a yearning for help from the Supreme One. The truth is that we cannot earn God’s mercy (because if we could, it would no longer be mercy) although we need to acknowledge our need of it. More importantly, mercy, according to Tony Evans, is given for the purpose of receiving blessings to advance God’s kingdom, not for individual consumption. Therefore, do not ask for a self-serving mercy from God; rather, ask for a mercy that will serve the kingdom of God.
So, here is my new year resolution: I desire mercy and not sacrifice.
De Vine 