Mercy is a word that should bring us humbly to our knees in gratitude to the One Who, because of His unfailing, unconditional, undeserved love, has given us so much!!! 

The Greek word for mercy is eleos. It means compassion– God’s kindness or goodwill towards the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them. 

When I think about what I was before His Mercy embraced me, I can stand in agreement with the Message Bible version of Titus 3:3-5 (and I’m sure you can see that it applies to your life).

It wasn’t so long ago that we ourselves were stupid and stubborn, easy marks for sin, ordered every which way by our glands, going around with a chip on our shoulder, hated and hating back. But when God, our kind and loving Savior God, stepped in, He saved us from all that. It was all His doing; we had nothing to do with it.

Let’s take a closer look at the mercy and compassion of God:

This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. Lamentations 3:21-23

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3

 For the Lord your God is a merciful God, He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them. Deuteronomy 4:31

But God, being [so very] rich in mercy, because of His great and wonderful love with which He loved us. Even when we were [spiritually] dead and separated from Him because of our sins, He made us [spiritually] alive together with Christ (for by His grace—His undeserved favor and mercy—you have been saved from God’s judgment). Ephesians 2:4-5 AMP

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” Exodus 34:6

Who is a God like You, who forgives wickedness and passes over the rebellious acts of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, because He [constantly] delights in mercy and lovingkindness. Micah 7:18 AMP

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Psalm 103:8

These are just a few of the Scripture verses that focus us on the mercy of God. How can we not be grateful for the mercy that He has shown and continues to grant to us?

To be grateful means to be “warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received.”

Let me be the first to admit that sometimes I need to make an attitude adjustment when I forget that it is because of His mercy that I am even saved. But God graciously reminds me that an attitude of gratitude is the only acceptable offering that I can bring to Him.

Let’s cultivate a “Heart of Gratitude” during this Thanksgiving season as we acknowledge the love, compassion, and mercy that our God continually showers down on us.

Father, help us to make an attitude adjustment so we can be warmly and deeply appreciative of Your Mercy and of Your kindness and the benefits that we have received from You. Forgive us for any ungratefulness that we have allowed to enter in to make our hearts hard and our eyes blind to your mercy. We place our hearts into Your Hands now and ask that You show us ways to break up the fallow ground and cultivate the kind of love for You and the heartfelt gratitude that will keep us praising and worshiping You all the days of our lives. And thank you that we can know and be fully persuaded of the Truth of Your Word–

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalm 23:6

In the Name of our Lord and King, Jesus Christ. Amen!