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Read: Matthew 5:43-44
Listen: Matthew 5

That you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  Matthew 5:45

Jesus wants the people on the hillside to encounter God’s bottomless mercy. He teaches that as they live out mercy by praying for their enemies, they reflect the likeness of their Heavenly Father. Their Father sends rain and sunshine to provide crops for the righteous and unrighteous. But Jesus is God’s greatest display of mercy. He sent his own Son to die for all people’s sins. This display of mercy restores undeserving people to friendship with God through their faith in Jesus.

We, too, need to see ourselves as receivers of God’s mercy. God’s mercy is like fresh morning dew—ever-present to refresh and restore us to God. God demonstrated his love for us through Jesus’s death. He died for us while we were still God’s enemies (Romans 5:8). It’s because of his great love and rich mercy that we are made alive through Jesus even when we were dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:4-5). We could never earn or deserve God’s mercy. God’s deep love and mercy are a wonder that takes our breath away. When we encounter his mercy, our lives are never the same.

TODAY: If you have never received God’s love and mercy through Jesus’s death and resurrection, you can do so now. Pray to God and accept Jesus’s death on your behalf. Take time to worship God for the love shown to you through Jesus. Join Ada Bible Worship as they sing “There is a Savior.” Praise God that “There is a Healer there is a friend. There is a mercy that never ends.”