Mercy For Us in Our Everyday Lives
Mercy is God’s, not punishing us as our sins deserve. It even applies to the mistakes we make which might have ended up in a disaster. How often have I pulled up to a stop sign and quickly taken off without noticing a car coming my way and just missed having a crash. I breathe a sigh of relief and quietly say, “Thank you, Lord for your mercy”.
We would all do well to take a moment each day to consider how we are experiencing the mercy of God in our lives. Maybe we deserved a speeding ticket but got a warning instead. This happened many years ago when I was taking my family to a week night prayer meeting at BPCF. I was in a hurry because we were late and I was exceeding the speed limit. I got pulled over and “piously” said to the police officer that I was hurrying to get to our church prayer meeting. He said, “OK, I will let you go, but slow down”. I said quietly to the Lord (which I have said many times), “Thank you Lord”. I really deserved a ticket but thankfully did not get one. This is the mercy of God.
We live in a fallen world . We all struggle and commit sins and make mistakes. Some are more egregious and others are from the fact that we are weak and imperfect human beings. Every mistake or sin that has occurred in our lives is an opportunity to learn something valuable about God’s mercy. When God’s mercy meets us in our problems, it transforms something that is or could be ugly into something that is beautiful.
“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, free of hypocrisy” James 3:17
It is easy to be overwhelmed with the problems of life, some of our own making and others that suddenly descend into lives. It is natural to want to hide these things and put on a good front to others. However, the Scriptural advice is to “humble ourselves” and acknowledge our problems, first to the Lord and then perhaps to a trusted friend who can join in taking the matter to the Lord. So instead of getting preoccupied with the problems that have invaded our lives, we can look beyond them to Jesus. Make the choice to trust Him in his presence with us and rely on his ability to bring good out of even the worst problems.
Mercy for Others-Become a Mercy Show-er
Jesus told the story in Matthew 18 of a man who owed a great debt to a king. It was described as a debt of 60 million days of work. He could not pay it and was in danger of losing all that he had including his family. He came to the king and pleaded for patience promising that he would repay the debt over time. However, the king had compassion on him and mercifully forgave the debt.
The man who was forgiven had a fellow servant who owed him a hundred denarii (a denarii is a day’s wage); and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe”. He forgot that he had been forgiven 60,000,000/100 , (equal to 600,000) times more than what the other servant owed him. The fellow servant went and reported this to the king. This is what the king said, “Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’? Matthew 18:33. As a result the unforgiving servant had to suffer the consequences of his belligerent and selfish attitude.
When I was in high school I was required to study one of William Shakespeare’s plays every year. The one I studied in my freshman year was “The Merchant of Venice”. It is the story about a merchant in Venice named Antonio who defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Shylock demands a pound of flesh in lieu of paying back the loan. A woman named Portia appeals in court for mercy for Antonio and made this famous speech which I was required to memorize;
“The quality of mercy is not strained. (filtered or diluted)
It drops as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesses him that gives and him that takes..
But mercy is…enthroned in the hearts of kings;
It is an attribute to God Himself;
And earthly power doth then show like God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this:
That in the course of justice none of us
Should see salvation. We do pray for mercy,
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.”
William Shakespeare obviously had read his Bible and recognized that mercy comes from heaven. “It is an attribute to God Himself”. He sees mercy coming down from heaven as a “gentle shower”. This is indeed a Shower of Blessing.
As Christians we have received this Mercy Shower in the forgiveness of our sin debt. What Jesus taught and what William Shakespeare learned from his Bible is that we should be Mercy Givers..Mercy Show-ers..the source of Mercy Showers to others.
Mercy Show-ers are the ones who meet a need at the right time. They are the ones people call first when they are hurting because something bad has happened. A Mercy-Show-er, is a person who had Spirit-given capacity and desire to serve God by identifying with and comforting thesewho are in distress. He is a person who steps in to meet the needs of another person even though they do not deserve it because he realizes how much he has been forgiven.
As undeserving recipients of God’s mercy, nothing else is more fitting than that we ourselves show unreserved mercy and compassion for other people. Indeed, we are commanded, ““Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.” Luke 6:36
Author – John Spence