I just want to pull one point from this passage that caused me to think. In verse eight we see Christ was a minister of circumcision. In the end of verse eight and beginning of verse nine two reasons are given for this. The second one is the one that struck me. "And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy".
Here in this second verse we see that Christ came to minister and from the beginning of it He had a heart for the world. (Gentiles are everyone that is not a Jew). Christ came that men might give God the glory He deserves for His abundant mercy.
God is merciful for so many reasons. That He died for us on the cross of calvary bearing our shame. That He doesn't destroy us when we are His enemies and doing everything that we can against Him. That He is forbearing with our sin and doesn't punish us now for it like we deserve.
God is merciful and He deserves that the world would glorify Him for His mercy!
In the end of this verse we are given two things that the mercy of God should drive us to do.
First, it should drive us to, "I will confess to thee among the Gentiles". God's mercy should cause us to praise God and confess to Him among the Gentiles. We ought not be closet Christians. We should be open with all of those that are around us about how merciful our God is. Do those that we work with and spend time with know that we are a Christian and about the greatness of our God.
Second, it should cause us to sing to our God. If we realize just how great our God's mercy is towards us it will cause us to sing. This ought to be in front of people and not just in private.
How much do we praise and confess to God His great mercy before the Gentiles?
Do those that are around us know of the mercy of God or are we silent?
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