I’ve always heard the difference between mercy and grace explained this way. Mercy is not getting what you deserve, while grace is getting what you don’t deserve. I also think that these two words can be used interchangeably. I’m thankful for both.

Every single day, I experience both grace and mercy. I end up not getting what I deserve and getting what I don’t deserve. I see a lot of people who throw around terms like karma on social media. In every case, that karma is usually for someone else.

But I’ve been around long enough to know that I don’t want what’s coming to me. I don’t want to get what I’ve earned and what I deserve. I can’t very well wish for karma for someone else and grace for me. That’s not how it works.

I know what grace and mercy look like. I know what grace and mercy feel like. I know they’re both part of the package deal that comes with salvation. That’s why I want mercy and grace for everyone I meet. Not because they deserve it. The very nature of grace and mercy is that they’re undeserved and not based on merit. In fact, a good definition for grace is unmerited favor.

Grace and mercy are two of my favorite words because I’m a living example of both lived out every day of my life. That amazing grace that brought me here thus far will lead me home one day and will be with me every step of the journey until then.

I love the idea of the great exchange. God in Jesus took our place by taking our punishment, so we could receive His righteousness and everything that belongs to Him. The one who knew no sin became sin for me, that I might be made righteous and holy — a saint.

Saints aren’t special people who are more holy and righteous than the rest of us. Saints are simply people who have experienced the goodness of God in a way that they couldn’t stay who they were. In fact, all those who have put their trust in Jesus are saints because of the imputed righteousness that is ours through Jesus.

Sometimes, I forget. I think about all that I am not and wish I could be. Sometimes, it’s easy to get caught up in comparing myself with others and become discouraged. But when I remember what Jesus did for me — dying on the cross — and still does for me — ever living to intercede for me, then I realized that I am blessed.

That’s really what we need. We need to preach the gospel to ourselves every single day, or we forget and start to become bitter and entitled. We need to remember that we were sinners, but now we’re saints because of Jesus. Every other name that we give ourselves is a lie from the enemy, but what Jesus says is what’s true.

This past Sunday, I showed up at my church to volunteer as a tech and to run all the worship slides. When I arrived, the tech director over all our campuses had a request. Would I be willing to go over to our Woodbine campus and fill in during their service?

It took me all of about two seconds to say yes. I love the Woodbine campus. One of my favorite people, Hunter Melton, is the campus and teaching pastor there. Plus, I know a few of the members. I love how God is at work in that community through that small but growing band of believers.

I was blessed that day. Hunter brought the Word with authority. I got to see some people I hadn’t seen in about a year since the last time I visited that campus. The new worship pastor, Cody Clark, was amazing and the songs were what I needed.

I suppose I could have declined the request, but I would have missed out on that blessing. Sometimes, there’s a special kind of joy that only comes from obedience and from being smack dab in the center of God’s will. That was me that day.

I look forward to being back at my own church this coming Sunday, but I’m praying for Woodbine, as well as all the other campuses, because God is doing something special in each place. God, bring Your holy revival to the city of Nashville, and let it begin in the hearts of your people as they earnestly seek Your face and surrender to Your will, whatever that may be. Amen.

That’s one thing I’ve learned over the years. Most of the time, I don’t know what to pray for. I can’t tell you how many times I’d ask God for something and get a no, only to look back later and be thankful He didn’t give me what I asked for.

Sometimes, God gives me what I didn’t ask for. In hindsight, I would have asked for that very thing had I known then what God knows.

I heard that God will typically answer more prayers with no than yes. I don’t know yet if I believe that or not, but it does make sense in a way. A lot of what we ask God for would destroy us if we got it when we asked for it. Sometimes, we ask for too little because we don’t see what God sees. Sometimes, I confess that I am only thinking of me and my little world while God is thinking of the whole universe and everyone in it.

More and more, I think the best way to pray is to leave it in God’s hands and simply pray as Jesus did when He prayed Thy will be done. That’s the best way.

“A good shoe is a shoe you don’t notice. Good reading becomes possible when you need no consciously think about eyes, or light, or print, or spelling. The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God” (C. S. Lewis).

I’m looking forward to worshipping with my church in a couple of days. The music is always top notch and the sermons are always on point. But I confess that sometimes I take myself out of worship when I critique the songs.

Back in the day, my gripe was that the songs were too old and not current enough. Now, I prefer the older songs and don’t care as much for the newer ones. And don’t even get me started on the sometimes wonky rhyme scheme and rhyming words that don’t actually rhyme.

All that to say that in those moments, I am not worshipping. If anything, I can be guilty of worshipping worship or worshipping the experience instead of worshipping God.

Worship happens when I become so focused on God that I’m almost unaware of anything else. It could be the newest worship song or a 400-year old hymn. It doesn’t matter. It could be the perfect sermon or just an average one. It doesn’t matter.

I think the key to worshipping in a church service is that your worship doesn’t start at 9:00 am when the church service starts. My whole life should be an act of worship, and Sunday is just a continuation of that.

Plus, sometimes I need to remember that in worship, it’s really not all about me. Sometimes, the songs and the sermon will feel like someone was reading my diary. Other times, it might be meant for someone else. Some Sundays, I’m called to give more than receive. But in all cases, it’s always only about God and not me.

I learned something new recently. In Psalm 23, King David writes about how goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. Apparently, the Hebrew word for follow isn’t a passive kind of following behind but more of an aggressive running after. I remember a poem called The Hound of Heaven about how God pursues His own, not with the intent to harm but to bless.

I’m thankful for grace that runs after me, especially on those days when I’m prone to wander away from what I know to be true. I can stubbornly follow my own path, even if I know it leads nowhere good. But God is never far away, always guiding me back to the right path.

The translation I’m reading currently says that God’s goodness and grace will pursue me every day of my life. Again, God’s not trying to run me over like an 18-wheeler. He’s after me the way the father runs after His own son in the story of the prodigal.

I’m thankful that I can’t outrun God. Sure, I can run fast enough and long enough to where I get to a place where I feel lost and unsure where God is, but God always knows where I am. He’s never very far away.

“Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life. I’m back home in the house of God for the rest of my life” (Psalms‬ ‭23‬:‭6‬, MSG).

I’m back dog sitting two of the best pups in the entire world. They’re a bit older, so they’ve mellowed a little from when I first started taking care of them. One, a Jack Russell mix, was basically a little ball of energy.

I believe they’re all rescues, so I’ve had the privilege of seeing them learn to trust me after they went through abuse in their prior home. But to see one of the dogs go from barking at me constantly to hanging out with me is like a balm to my soul.

There were three at one time, but one crossed the rainbow bridge a few years ago. I still miss her sweet face and her gentle timid ways. I think the other pups still miss her at times.

But it’s a good lesson on people. If you trust God and don’t give up on people, you can be surprised what God can do — not just in their hearts but in yours as well. So often I think the other person needs to change when God really wants to work on me,

All it takes is patience and a little love. It helps to remember how patient God has been with us all these years. If I could learn to love people (including myself) the way God loves me, then I’d be a better man. One day, I believe I will.

I think another way to say this would go something like this: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs‬ ‭3‬:‭5-6).

The point is to be okay with unanswered questions. It’s to live with not knowing all the answers, especially questions like why and how. Trust means leaving it all up to the one who knows it all.

I remember when I was a child. I didn’t need to know everything. I could trust my parents had my best interests at heart and rest in their care for me. I could be a kid and sleep at night with the full assurance that I was in good hands.

I think that’s how it is for those who belong to Jesus. We can wear ourselves out trying to figure out everything or play out scenarios for every possible outcome, or we can choose not to trust in our own understanding and to lean on the Lord with all we are.

If we live consumed by the past or obsessed with the future, we miss the present. We miss God showing up and speaking to us in the here and now. We miss our lives.

As simplistic as it sounds, the best way is still to trust and obey. It’s to lean on God with all our hearts and minds and everything else. Then we can live with unanswered questions because we know the one with the answers.