Mercy vs Grace

I heard a wonderful, simple parable today about the difference between grace and mercy.

"You are driving at 100 mph through a 30 mph zone. The cops catch you and they pull you over. They ask you why, but you can't give them a reason that would justify putting others in danger.
Mercy is that they let go without a ticket. You deserved punishment but they didn't punish you.
Grace is that they give you a $1million reward."

God shows us both grace and mercy.
We are sinful, and because of His justice He should punish us, but because of His character His love is greater than His justice.. He is perfect in His nature.
His justice demands that we are punished because we are unmerciful, unloving, unforgiving - even the best of us are sinful, even as children we demonstrate our fallenness.
Despite it all He can't bear to destroy us. His love is too great. He wants a relationship with us just as much as He did before the fall in Eden.

Therefore because of His mercy He does not punish us (when we accept Jesus as our reprieve).
But because of His grace He doesn't just begrudgingly forgive us... no instead He offers us a crown and adopts us into His Royal family, when we choose relationship with Him, when we choose to become His children.
Instead of punishing many He asks His son to take the punishment "once for all".
When we cry out for justice and punishment for those who have offended us- we are crying out for Him to destroy us, as with us He showed us love over Justice.

Lord teach us to love like you, to cover a multitude of sins and to not demand justice for the sin that are committed against us. Help us to understand and have deep revelation of Your love, Your mercy and Your grace. We have been forgiven a great debt, lets not be like the unmerciful servant who will not forgive a debt owed to Him, but to love as You love. We cannot do it by ourselves Lord, it is not in our nature, so Holy Spirit come and renew our minds and our hearts, make us like Jesus. In His name we ask Lord, Amen


Check out ibethel.com Kris Valliton's message "healing the whole man" - for more teaching on this parable.