But God, being rich in mercy,
because of His great love with which He loved us,
even when we were dead in our wrongdoings,
made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
and raised us up with Him,
and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
so that in the ages to come He might show the boundless riches of His grace
in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith;
and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Ephesians 2:4-10 NASB
What is the colour of mercy? Now that may seem an odd question, but I use worship flags so colour is an important consideration. I see mercy as blue, a deep velvet summer-twilight sky, you know: when you look to the west and see darkening oranges and reds, but then you turn and look behind you and the sky is not yet black or lit with stars. That is the colour of mercy: a warm, summer’s evening blanketing you gently with encroaching sleep.
Grace is also blue, but that’s a stronger, bolder colour, like when an azure sea perfectly mirrors the sky above. Am I being fanciful? Well… maybe a little, but colours are known to reflect or influence our moods and emotions, and imagining aspects of an indescribable God in terms of colour is a good way to then analyse and discover why. What attributes am I referencing when I say mercy and grace are both blue?
Let’s take mercy first: a warm, summer evening sky, blanketing you gently with encroaching sleep:
Mercy is gentle, undemanding. There is nothing we can do to deserve it and nothing we can do to lose it.
The Lord God has abundant mercy and never-ending love, so that – whether we’re dead in our wrongdoings or alive together in Christ – his mercy will enfold us gently, as a mother cradles her baby, wrapping her in a soft blanket and showering him with tender kisses.
Likewise grace is about God’s infinite love. “Grace means that God already loves us as much as an infinite God can possible love,” as Philip Yancey puts it. But I think grace is more about action, that’s why it’s a stronger colour and emotion. You’ve probably heard the expression God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense, as an acronym of GRACE. It’s a verb: an action on Christ’s part, a progression on ours from sin and death to forgiveness and life. And it’s grace rather than mercy which stirs a response in us: not because we have to earn our place in heaven, but because
We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
We do not need to earn our ‘seat in heavenly places’ but, because of the grace shown to us, action is a natural response, one which God anticipates and therefore has a personalised role for us in his kingdom, should we choose it.