God Grant Mercy!

I Timothy 1.2:  "Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith; Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord."

I shared some of these thoughts last night (Wednesday night) with our church in our study through I Timothy.  The Apostle Paul uses very similar greeting to this in almost every epistle.  However, only to Timothy and Titus does he include the word "mercy" in the greeting.  Take a look at these verses if you have time:  Romans 1.7, I Cor. 1.3, II Cor. 1.2, Gal. 1.3, Eph. 1.2, Phil. 1.2, Col. 1.2, I thes. 1.1, II Thes 1.2, Phm vs. 3 all say something similar to "Grace to you and peace...".   While I Tim 1.2, II Tim 1.2, and Titus 1.4 all include "mercy" - "Grace, mercy and peace...".  I find that to be unusual.  Why?  All we can do is suppose why the Holy Ghost inspired Paul to include the word "mercy in his greeting to Timothy and Titus.

The word "mercy" has to do with protection particularly the protective hand of God.  It is linked with God's protective hand around someone.  You have probably heard the saying, "Grace gives us what we don't deserve, mercy withholds what we do deserve".  Mercy is the protection of God.  Psalm 30.10 says, "Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me:  LORD, be thou my helper."  Perhaps this gives us a clue as to why Paul specifically included the word "mercy" in greetings to Timothy and Titus.

There are two unique things about Timothy and Titus that may have caused Paul to invoke the mercy of God toward them:

1.  They are both young-

If there is any particular age group we need to pray for God's mercy to be extended to them -God's protective hand - it is for our young people!  Youth is a vulnerable stage, it is a time when many life changing decisions are made.  It is a time when people are susceptible to temptation and danger.  Hormones are running wild.   The part of the brain that assesses risk is not fully developed until a person is 25 years old.  Young people have not lived long enough to see the end of sin like some of "old" folks.  You couple that with the world preying of these attributes of young people with all of their evil influences.  Sin and temptation on every corner.  We must pray for the mercies of God to be extended to their young lives!

2.  They are both preachers-

The old saying is "Those who are out in front are the first ones to get shot at".  The devil knows if he can tear down the preachers - he can hurt and even destroy the entire local church.  He is out to destroy those who are in the forefront - preaching and teaching God's Word.  Pastors, missionaries, evangelists, teachers - satan would love to destroy their lives, ruin their homes or discourage them to the point of uselessness.  Remember your Pastor, pray for our Missionaries, invoke God's mercy for all men who are preaching the Word and also for their families.  Preachers must have people praying that God will grant him mercy to protect him from all that is out there to destroy him!