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
There is so much goodness in this verse, but let’s just focus on a couple phrases. First, According to his great mercy.
A quick definition of mercy is underserved kindness. And God’s mercy is great. He is overflowing with kindness for those who don’t deserve it. What wonderful news for sinners like us. And “great” doesn’t mean “a lot”. It means that God’s mercy is inexhaustible. He has immeasurable, never-ending mercy for sinners like me and you. And we know this because of what comes next.
According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again. “According to” means that it is because of his great mercy he did this. This action came out of who he is. It fits his character. Mercy is his default. The Old Testament calls him “God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”
So according to that mercy he caused us to be born again. Who does the work of saving us? God does–he caused us to be born again.
So if we are ever tempted to doubt or wonder about our salvation and our security, or if we are unsure how God feels about us, we can remember that he did the saving because of his great mercy. We are in his hands, and wrapped in his kindness.
I originally wrote this post for my church, Immanuel Nashville, in our Daily Pulse email. If you want encouragement from God’s word delivered Monday thru Friday to your inbox, I encourage you to subscribe.
