We All Need Mercy

by Allen Ketchersid

“And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:5-6).

In Romans the Apostle Paul spends eight chapters substantiating our common need for a righteousness that comes from God and emphasizing that the only hope anyone has for salvation is obtained through faith in Jesus Christ. Romans 3:21-26 sums up the thesis quite succinctly, but Paul has much to say after Chapter 3, or even Chapter 8, where he has completed his discussion of these theological premises. He intends for us to apply this awareness to practical Christian living, lest we divorce gospel understanding from the daily, practical decisions that affect our interactions with others both inside and outside of the Church.

In the exhortations of the final section of the book (Chapters 12-16), the matter of sacrificially loving God by loving others is shown to require an ongoing humility that dominates one’s thought processes (see 11:20; 11:25; 12:3; 12:10; 13:8-10). In other words, we never allow ourselves to forget that our personal righteousness is from God. God shed abroad his love into our undeserving heart through Jesus Christ. Our union with Christ has accomplished a resurrection of sorts for us and we walk in newness of life, loving and giving as our Lord did.

I recently read something Tom Landry once did that exemplifies this principle. As the coach of the Dallas Cowboys, he was invited to a prestigious banquet at the season’s end. This was the same season in which Woody Hayes had been fired from his job as coach of the Ohio State football team for striking an opposing player on the sidelines during a football game. Hayes was understandably disgraced and subjected to much criticism and scorn. Tom Landry brought Woody Hayes to that banquet as his guest. The love in Tom Landry’s heart poured forth in the form of mercy and identification with a defeated fellow. His willingness to put his own reputation at risk was really a bold acknowledgement that no one is without the need for mercy. That was a decision much in line with the pure gospel of Christ.