God Shows Mercy to All People...Just Like on the Cross!
Genesis 8:13-22 New International Version
13 By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. 14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry. 15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.” 18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. 19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another. 20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though[a] every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. 22 “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”
Thursday - June 17
Karma is the idea that the sum of a person's actions decides their fate in future existence. In other words, if you do good you will get a good reward and if you do bad you will get a bad punishment. Many Christians actually think that this is how God acts, even if they do not use the phrase “karma.” They believe that God doles out blessings and curses based on our good or bad actions. As Noah is leaving the ark he makes a sacrifice. But that sacrifice does not “earn” a reward. Instead, God does something amazing. First, God clearly states the reality of universal human sin. It is in all of us and affects every aspect of our lives. But God shows mercy to all people! He makes a promise to bless all humans through the normal seasons that allow for cattle to graze and food to be grown. The flood story shows that God is merciful, gracious, and forgiving… just like on the cross!