If you have any interest in sports, you are probably familiar with the “mercy rule.” This rule is also known as a knockout, slaughter, or skunk rule, so even the names of the rule do not sound appealing! The mercy rule ends a game early when one team has a significant and likely insurmountable lead over the other. It is used to prevent further humiliation of the losing team.  

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If God kept score of my sins, then the mercy rule would have been invoked on me a long time ago! I sin every day. In the first part of Romans 6:23, we read that “the wages of sin is death”! I deserve death, but God has mercy on me. How is that, and what is mercy? To me, mercy is a heartfelt word that conveys deep, genuine concern for another. My favorite description of God’s mercy is defined as Him giving us what we need, not what we deserve. Mercy is a beautiful gift! Remember, we deserve death!    

Until I studied Scripture in preparation for writing this devotion, I never fully realized the how of God’s mercy plan, and the way it was laid out: God is pure love and did not want sin to enter the world. He started with a simple plan with one rule: “Do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for you will certainly die” (Gen. 2:17). Well, that did not work out…we know that man and woman sinned.

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Then, in Genesis 15, God starts to reveal a new plan. God told Abram that his descendants would outnumber the stars (vs. 5). Abram believed God, so He credited him as righteous (vs. 6), which means God made it as if Abram had never sinned. Remember that Abram and Sarai, later known as Abraham and Sarah, had no children at the ripe ages of 100 and 90 (Gen. 21:5), so this promise certainly required faith in God! Later, Isaac was born to Abraham and Sarah, and many years later a baby boy, Jesus, was born from the lineage of Abraham (Luke 3:34).

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The next part of God’s plan starts in Exodus 20 when God gives Moses the Ten Commandments and the other Mosaic laws. This part unfolds over centuries as people tried to follow these many laws. But not one person could follow them perfectly – so why were they given? One law in the beginning could not be followed, so maybe many could be? No! The law was given to show that we are incapable of following any law. The law is a mirror that reveals our sins, but it cannot free us from death due to sin.  

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Through God’s plan, people proved that it does not depend on what people want or what they do, but on something else entirely! The end of today’s verse gives us the answer: it all depends on God’s mercy (Rom 9:16). How so, you ask? God’s plan of mercy is revealed through Jesus, the only person who has lived on earth who never sinned! Jesus is God’s Mercy Rule! A relationship with Jesus prevents us from further humiliation due to our sins. Jesus’ blood covers our sins, and God sees us with pure love. God did not have to provide a perfect person to die for our sins, but He did. His mercy and love are reflected in Jesus’ death and resurrection, for which we are eternally grateful. Will you be among the children of our merciful, God, outnumbering the stars in the sky?  

Merciful God! As I think about all the stars in the sky and Your endless love for us, I marvel at Your plan! You provided a perfect sacrifice in Jesus. Thank you for Your mercy plan that provides a way for me to have a relationship with You. Your mercy allows me to experience forgiveness, love, peace, and joy! Love you, Jesus. Amen.