Shakespeare once said through his character Juliet, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” That’s a poetic way of saying, what makes a thing what it is is its characteristics and essence, not what we call it. What makes a rose a rose? Not its name. What makes a rose a rose is its petal forms and its thorny stem and its color and its sweet fragrance.

What makes a dog a dog? Its four legs, its canine teeth, its wagging tail, and its bark to name a few.

In Romans 9, Apostle Paul is thinking on mercy. And so I ask this question, what makes mercy mercy? Well, Apostle Paul points out that one of the things that makes mercy mercy is the fact that God doesn’t have to give it. Mercy is never owed. In fact, the moment, mercy begins to be owed to somebody, it’s no longer mercy. It’s something else.

Beloved, if you have received mercy from God, never forget that God didn’t have to give it to you. That’s why God says in Romans 9, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” And later Apostle Paul says of God, “So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.”

All of that means that God would have been perfectly righteous to have given you and me the punishment we deserve. But praise God, He has shown us mercy, even though he didn’t have to. Thank you, Father! May you rejoice in God’s mercy today! Mercy by any other name would still smell as sweet.

Change begins in you!