While lending his voice to solve the puzzle of feeding the multitude, Andrew made mention of a lad who had five barley loaves and two small fishes; but he quickly added, “but what are they among so many”? Andrew had just made a major, positive, useful contribution that should help solve the puzzle, but he made another statement that countered his suggestion. He made a second statement that should nullify the first.
Jesus eventually took the loaves and the fishes and fed the multitude; so He took Andrew’s first statement and ignored the second statement. He did not allow the second, erroneous statement from Andrew to nullify the first, useful statement; He did not allow what Andrew said wrongly to nullify what he said rightly; Andrew clearly made a mistake by adding the second statement, but grace was enough to cover it.
Friend, hear me as I hear the Lord: by the mercies of God, whatever you have done wrong will not nullify what you did right. One mistake will not become the end of your achievements; your mistakes will not nullify your exploits; the fact that you once deviated will not exclude you from the plan of God; whatever you didn’t do well will not remove you from the results that are already destined to come to you.
Whereas Jesus paid attention to Andrew’s suggestion, He paid no attention to the needless addendum from Andrew. Jesus took what Andrew said right and ignored what he said wrongly. Hear me again: the mercies of God will blot out your errors and empower you to stand on the mountain of influence and relevance. Your good will be seen, and your bad will not be seen; grace and mercy will speak over your error.
When your mistakes lurk around, mercy will speak louder than judgement. Mercy will save your achievement; mercy will protect you when you miss your way; mercy will fill the gap in your time of error.
