Easter: God's mercy

Luke 24:36-49

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God is so merciful to us. He gives us multiple opportunities to believe in Him, layering His revelations to us on top of each other to open every door we might be willing to walk through in building a relationship with Him. Jesus revealed His identity to His disciples in every miracle and every sermon He gave during His public ministry. He revealed Himself again in the Last Supper. He revealed Himself again in the empty tomb and the angels explaining that Christ was risen. He revealed Himself again in personal encounters with several individuals (Mary Magdalene and the two walking to Emmaus, among others). He revealed Himself again in appearing to the disciples in the Upper Room. Then He yet again revealed Himself in inviting them to touch Him and in eating their own food. Each revelation I'm sure brought more of them to a deep faith in Jesus as Lord and Messiah. Yet He never condemns those holdouts who need just one more revelation before they fully believe.
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How has the Lord revealed Himself to you and how many revelations has it taken for you to give Him your all? Take time today to thank Him for His gracious mercy in not giving up on you when you didn't respond to His first revelation. Then remember that the same mercy is available to each and every person you encounter, so if they haven't responded in the past, they might still respond to the next revelation. So go ahead and invite that person to your church service, to the retreat, to the evangelistic opportunity which you doubt they'll respond to. Don't give up hope, for Christ hasn't. Just do your part and let Him be concerned with their hearts.