Because broken promises can't be mended, but they can be forgiven.

And my problem here is that if the power of God and his grace is limited to forgiveness (I know, that's not very limited at all!), then I'm not sure what the point is. I've lived too much of my life in fear of making mistakes and hurting other people--the only way I've found not to be crippled by such thinking is to trust that God can bring good out of the worst mistakes... that he not only can forgive us, but heal us and heal others. Redeem, not just forgive.

I love your ponderings on merit vs. worth. I'd be interested in hearing more about it--I've struggled with what "worth" and "worthy" mean in just these contexts, but hadn't managed to get to the point where I was using two different terms for the two different views on what makes something "worthwhile."

Or as if one were oil and the other were water. (Which would make Christ's blood detergent... oh dear.)

Is it wrong that I kind of love this as an analogy? :)