Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.—All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness 

“O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart”—Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”—The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty…See, I have taken away your sins, and now I am giving you these fine new clothes. 

You must make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive the person who offends you.  Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.—Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.—Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.— so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.  So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. … Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

Who is like the Lord?

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.— But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.—And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more. 

Micah 7:18 ESV; Ps.25:10 ESV; I Kings 8:23 ESV; Ex.33:18 ESV; Ex. 34:6,7 ESV; Zech. 3:4 NLT; Col.3:13 NLT; Eph. 4:32 NASB; I Pet.4:8 ESV; II Cor.2:7-8, 10-11 ESV; I Jn.3:2 ESV;  II Cor.2:14 ESV; II Cor.3:18 NLT

Sunday’s sermon came from the prophet Micah, a call to turn from idols back to the living God, for after all, who is like Him?  Thirty-some years ago we named our one-of-a-kind firstborn Micah Gabriel.  Micah meaning ‘who is like the Lord?’ and Gabriel denoting ‘the Lord is my strength’.  He has a lifetime to live up to these things.  Which of us is like the Lord?

It’s intriguing to notice the trait by which God reveals Himself to His people when asked to show His glory.  He declares his steadfast love and forgiveness as representing the essence of His glory.   Moses witnessed it. Micah knew it.  Jesus lived it out and we, his followers are identified as such by the way we love and forgive one another.

Forgiven and forgiving we are rare perfume in a world accustomed to the stench of sin. Though sometimes (often?) thought odious, resented, and misunderstood by those yet blind to God’s glory, we are here to showcase its heavenly scent as the Spirit works in us what Christ has done for us.

Little by little He is remaking us into the image of God’s Son.  As we extend mercy and love to one another the world looking on sees something distinctly Christ-like. The one who said, “Forgive them for they know not what they do” as He was dying for the sake of sinners, calls us to do likewise.  May He grant us grace to love like this today!