faith

               Faith is a beautiful word.  It brings up wonderful connotations of security and steadfastness.  The thing about faith in God is that you have to figure out how to have faith in every aspect of his character.  You have to accept his justice along with his mercy.
               We love to have faith in the mercy of God.  We bank on it.  We couldn't do without it.. It's the flip side of that faith coin--the faith in his perfect justice that we sometimes we have trouble reconciling with the side of the coin that we love. 
               Still, if there were not a perfect standard and a perfect justice to go with it, his mercy would be meaningless.  I need the mercy of God demonstrated overwhelmingly in the cross because I cannot live up to his perfect standard and I am deserving of his perfect justice.  I'm so grateful he did not do away with perfection in order to accomodate my failures.  In all my imperfection, I rely on the perfect mercy of God.

But my righteousness will last forever, my salvation through all generations.

                                                                                                              Isaiah 51:8