God is….gracious

Once again we find a couple of words that are somewhat interchangeable.  Gracious and merciful.

Exodus 33:19(NKJV)

Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” 

Exodus 22:26-27(NKJV)

If you ever take your neighbor’s garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down. 

For that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What will he sleep in? And it will be that when he cries to Me, I will hear, for I am gracious.

Exodus 34:5-7(NKJV)

Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 

And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 

keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

2 Chronicles 30:9(NKJV)

For if you return to the Lord, your brethren and your children will be treated with compassion by those who lead them captive, so that they may come back to this land; for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn His face from you if you return to Him.”

Psalms 103:8(NKJV)

    The Lord is merciful and gracious,     Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.

Let's get the definitions.

gracious

1. pleasantly kind, benevolent, and courteous.
2. characterized by good taste, comfort, ease, or luxury:

gracious suburban living; a gracious home.

3. indulgent or beneficent in a pleasantly condescending way, especially to inferiors.
4. merciful or compassionate:

our gracious king.

5. Obsolete. fortunate or happy.

From <http://www.dictionary.com/browse/gracious?s=t>

merciful

1. full of mercy; characterized by, expressing, or showing mercy; compassionate:

a merciful God.

From <http://www.dictionary.com/browse/merciful>

mercy

1. compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power; compassion, pity, or benevolence:

Have mercy on the poor sinner.

2. the disposition to be compassionate or forbearing:

an adversary wholly without mercy.

3. the discretionary power of a judge to pardon someone or to mitigate punishment, especially to send to prison rather than invoke the death penalty.
4. an act of kindness, compassion, or favor:

She has performed countless small mercies for her friends and neighbors.

5. something that gives evidence of divine favor; blessing:

It was just a mercy we had our seat belts on when it happened.

From <http://www.dictionary.com/browse/mercy>

I think the overall message here is that God will give us many chances.  Unfortunately I think there are many in the Christian community who have taken this to mean that we will get unlimited opportunities and even if we never accept Jesus we still get to go to Heaven because after all God is gracious and merciful. 

I think that is an error in their understanding of Scripture.