Mercy—it means that one does not receive what they deserve. God has been so merciful to me. I deserve hell. I have been such a wretched sinner. My crimes against heaven and humanity are too numerous to recount. Yet, what did God do? He loved me so much that He would send His Son to die in my place—to suffer the punishment I deserve, so that I might have an inheritance in heaven. What great mercy!
This ought to motivate the follower of Christ to be merciful. How can we claim to be Christians and fail to extend mercy? You may argue, “But, you don’t know how they hurt me!” I will not debate that. I am not minimizing the hurt. My question for you to ponder is, “How much hurt did Jesus know on the cross? What did He do?” His pain was the price for obtaining our mercy.
In fact, it is to our benefit to extend mercy. According to Jesus, if we want to get mercy, we must give mercy. Knowing the mercy of God, and then refusing to be merciful to others, shuts off the flow of mercy to us. Bitterness, vengeance, and hate will fill the heart of one who refuses to grant mercy, and there is no room in a heart like that for God’s mercy to be given.
In fact, the danger here is that should such a spirit dominate a person, it may well be that they do not have God’s Spirit. Such a heart of hate may prove that we have rejected the mercy of God, and are unregenerate.
Would you receive mercy today? Be merciful. How can you be? Take a trip to Calvary and ponder deeply the mercy of God in Christ. It is life-changing!
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