The diffrence between grace and mercy...

I posted this in a note on facebook back in November, but I figure it'd probably be good to stick in here.

Mercy = not getting what we deserve.

Grace = getting what we don't deserve.

I think one of the most amazing things about God is that He is both merciful and gracious. While I, a sinning human, cannot live up to the perfection that is required of me, God is merciful to me and does not remove me from His sight. He does not turn his face from me. Instead, He has the amazing grace to send His only Son to die for me, remove my sin, washing me clean as snow, and gives me the ability to have a personal relationship with Him. Who among us humans could ever do something great enough to deserve the voluntary sacrifice of the Son of the Most High God? Certainly not me! I'd have a better chance of swimming from San Diego to Hawaii. Yet God loves us so much that He is not only willing to be merciful to us, but to be gracious as well. And to what an extent! To love, to be loved and to know we are loved by the Creator of the Universe! God is awesome!

Forget the whole "best thing since" part, Jesus is even better than sliced bread!

Heck, Jesus is even better than toast!

As my good friend Liz said, Jesus is even better than a slice of warmed Artisan Multi-Grain from Con Panne

Definitions courtesy of my old youth pastor, Dave Price.