Matthew 5:3-10 says:
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be
comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the
earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for
they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain
mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed
are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed
are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven.
Well, this verse is pretty self explanatory. Reading this reminded me of the saying my mom used to tell me “what goes around comes around”. This verse is actually really promising. If we are merciful to people,. God is going to be merciful with us.
Mercy is like showing compassion as an act of love. We see how God was merciful to people all over the Bible. Look at Jonah. God asked him to do something but in his disobedience, he refused to. Jonah did have his consequences (as we all do when we sin), but God had mercy on him and preserved his life. God could’ve allowed Him to die in the stomach of the big fish, but He didn’t. Jonah was a child of God and He preserved his life. Through the trial, Jonah saw who was God and how merciful he was towards Him.
God doesn’t want us to suffer. Although he’s not going to take away our consequences if we sin against Him, He will show us mercy. He wants to be merciful to us. His mercy is unfailing and endless. God promises mercy on those who fear Him. Luke 1:50 says,
“His mercy extends to those who fear Him, from generation to generation.”
That’s another of God’s many promises towards His children. Mercy is so important to God that in Proverbs 3:3 he instructs us to bind it around our neck and write them on the tablet of our hearts.
The greatest gift of mercy that we’ve ever received was when God sent His Son to die for us. Through His mercy, God saved us from eternal separation from Him. By sending His Son to die for us, and save us, he showed us the biggest amount of mercy every shown. We don’t deserve it and much less for Him to continue showing us mercy. He didn’t stop at the death of His Son. He continues to show it to us every day. Our gratefulness should pour out of our hearts daily.
In the same way that He showed us such great mercy, God wants and expects us to return it not to Him, but towards the people around us. Be patient and merciful to those people who don’t know Christ. Many times, we’re inclined to judge people because of their actions and we forget that they don’t have Christ in their lives to show them the right way. We should be extra merciful to those people and patiently show them the way of God. We should take every opportunity God gives us with people to be merciful to them.
Great post Sophie,
ReplyDeleteI remember when I was a kid how much I loved to have mercy from my parents. When I was to be punished, I would beg and beg for them to have mercy just one more time. The funny thing was that when one of my younger brothers broke that same law, I would tell my parents how they should punish him! I was a two-face. It was not long before I needed an extension of mercy, but it was not granted to me. My parents would tell me that since I was not merciful with my sibling, they won't give me mercy.
That is a pretty clear example of this verse. :P
I need to fill my mind thinking of how mercyful God is always with me. I need to confess that I don't think of it as often I should. Many times I found myself as the angry men that got so ready to stone the woman found in adultery, but what I really want is to sit with Jesus and to share of His great mercy. Thank you, Sophie, for writing about this. How simple and desirable it is, but how fast we forget about it.
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