In yesterday’s devotional, I shared with you the first reason we can live with hope: God chose us before we chose him.

The second reason is this: God always treats us with grace and mercy.

Peter writes to those who are already believers, “All honor to God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; for it is his boundless mercy that has given us the privilege of being born again” (1 Peter 1:3a TLB).

The more we understand grace, the more we’ll be amazed by it. It’s completely undeserved. It’s totally unmerited. It is not something that you could earn or work for. It’s just a free gift of God’s mercy.

You can’t make God love you any more than he loves you right now. You can’t make him love you any less. His love is based on his mercy for you.

God’s Word tells us, “When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:4-5 NLT).

This is very important to understand. When you blow it as a believer, God doesn’t get mad at you. God doesn’t want to get even with you. God doesn’t start planning to mess up your life. God always acts in mercy toward you. Why? Because you’re covered in the blood of Jesus Christ when you’ve accepted him as Savior. That’s why God responds in mercy every time you mess up.

And that should give you hope.