Daily Affirmations - Day 5 - Where the People Are - Mercy, Not Sacrifice

Day 5: Mercy, not sacrifice

Out of the fullness of Jesus we have all received grace in place of grace already given

While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with Him and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:10-13).

Our Lord Jesus, You who sit at the right hand of the Father in heaven, You came to live among humans and You declared of Yourself, "I AM the way, the truth and the life. No one come to the Father, except through Me" (John 14:6). And Your goal was made clear in Scripture: For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him (John 3:17).

You corrected the mistaken attitude of the religious elite who criticized You for eating with tax collectors and sinners (Matthew 9:11). You clarified for them Your mission, "For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). And to those who were convinced of their own righteousness, You gave the warning, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you…” (Matthew 21:31).

You explained that the tax collectors and prostitutes they so disparaged entered the kingdom of God by humbly believing and accepting the way of righteousness but those who placed confidence in their own righteousness did not (Matthew 21:32).

You directed their attention to the Scripture where the prophet Hosea called the people of God to repentance. And You gave them the instruction, "Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’" (Matthew 9:13, Hosea 6:6).

O Lord, examine our hearts today. Time and again, You have made it clear that Yours is the way—not of an empty religion of rites and rituals, nor of religious traditions and human endeavor, but of transformed lives rooted and established in love, strengthened in the inner being with the power of God's Spirit, with Christ fully resident in the heart through faith (Ephesians 3:16-17).

Lord, far be it from us to elevate our own righteousness, and disparage others. You offer the same grace to all of us, for no one is righteous before You. Show us the ones whom we view today through the lens of narrow self-righteousness and hypocrisy.

Lead us to the love of a Christ who still moves where the people are, eating, drinking, living— desiring us all to accept Your grace. Lead us to the repentance urged by Hosea:

"Come, let us return to the Lord... Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge Him. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth...” For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings (Hosea 6:1, 3, 6).

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