Standing in Mercy: “For who maketh thee to differ from another?” I Corinthians 4:7. Most of us wouldn’t struggle much with that question. With a thankful eye to the Lord, we answer it easily, even instinctively. Grace makes the difference. God makes the difference. But that was precisely the language of the Pharisee when he prayed, “God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are.” Luke 18:11. He believed the difference lay in what grace had made him, in the faith he possessed, the scriptures he appealed to, the sins he avoided, the life he could point to, rather than in what mercy had given him. His confidence rested in a distinction he could see and measure. Paul’s question reaches beyond the phrases we’ve learned to repeat. It exposes that instinct in all of us.
That instinct is the desire to stand somewhere other than sheer mercy, to locate the difference somewhere in ourselves, even while speaking in God-honoring terms. So we begin to take stock, noticing what we have and others lack, and drawing comfort from that distinction. We say God did it, and we mean it, yet we still look for proof of it in ourselves: in our faith, our understanding, our obedience, our seriousness about the truth, our separation, the sins we’ve been kept from, the light we’ve been given. Little by little, grace becomes something we possess, mercy something that marks us out, and what was freely given starts to feel like something we can point to. It’s the need to reassure ourselves that we are not like others. We may never pray the Pharisee’s words out loud, but we feel their pull. At its root, it’s the old Adamic reflex, the habit of looking to ourselves for a reason, for something we can point to that tells us why we’re standing here and not there. Galatians 6:3.
There is a subtle danger in talking too much about how grace has made us different. Even good words can begin to turn our eyes away from Christ and back toward ourselves. But when we honestly examine our lives, any sense of distinction quickly collapses. We live in the same world as everyone else, under the same pressures and the same weaknesses. We grow tired, we grow old, and we die. Grace has not exempted us from any of this. Grace has not made us less human or less dependent. There is nothing in us that separates us from the rest of mankind.
All men are alike in Adam, alike in ruin, inability, guilt, and dependence. Whatever difference exists is not found in us at all. It is found only in Christ, in belonging to Him and in receiving what He alone has given. What can you do? Can you make yourself believe? Can you conquer even one sin at the root? Can you bring yourself out of darkness into light? Can you esteem others better than yourself? Can you love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? We are not standing because we are different. We are standing because Christ is faithful. II Thessalonians 3:3. We are not saved because we brought something to the table. We are saved because we were given everything. Romans 8:32. And if it was received, why would we glory as though we had not received it? That question keeps us low, but it also keeps Christ high, and that, after all, is exactly where the gospel intends us to live. I Corinthians 1:29-31. If the only difference between me and another sinner is what I have received, then boasting is excluded, comparison is silenced, and gratitude is all that remains. “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” II Corinthians 9:15. MPJ