Good morning Lovelies. Father God, I thank You for your mercies that are new every day. Because Father we definitely do not deserve it. Father, we live in a world where there are so many hurting people that at times it can become overwhelming and we find ourselves stepping back, and almost hoping that the problem will go away. And yet Jesus demonstrated a life that overflowed with deep-compassion and tender-mercy towards all those that were wounded and abused, troubled or hurt. Help us to stretch out a willing arm of comfort, when we see other people hurting or in pain, and may we extend a godly mercy that only comes from You to those that are unlovely or the unlovable. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ become our inner clothing and may the love of the Father be the outer garment that we wear, so that by Your Spirit we may be empowered to bless and help all those with whom we come in contact. May all we say and do be a witness to the grace and mercy of God and we pray that You would give us opportunities to minister Your mercy. In the Mighty, Matchless Name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
Have you often wondered how it is that we continue to get shown mercy to our wretched selves? Mercy is something that is hard to show in the natural sense. Webster’s dictionary describes mercy as-“The person with the gift of mercy is always going to be reaching out to help someone else emotionally. They have the ability to sense or feel the atmosphere of joy or distress where there’s misery, pain, suffering, grief or tribulation. This kind of person has a discerning spirit that’s able to distinguish in a group or an individual what’s going on emotionally. They have a sharp, sensitive awareness of someone else’s needs. That ability to be understanding has an attraction in itself.”
Isn’t this an interesting definition of mercy? Because this describes just what Jesus does when He shows us mercy. How often do we not show mercy? The answer to this sadly is, it is too often that we don’t. But we are very quick to voice our opinion on how we don’t receive mercy from others even though we ourselves are not showing or giving mercy to others. A person with the gift of mercy always wants to remove hurt from others. Now, the person sharing may be dead wrong, but the person with mercy isn’t trying to defend or correct, but heal a broken heart or a broken spirit or a hurt spirit. A mercy heart is more interested in healing than in teaching some spiritual lesson.
A person that shows mercy to others, senses words and actions that will hurt another person and it actually hurts them too. All of us are that way to an extent. Or, at least we should be. There’s a discernment they know when they’re meeting a need and when they’re not, because of the sensitivity of their spirit. Now, it’s extremely important to have a sensitive spirit, but is it not true that the more sensitive a spirit is – sometimes the more easily you can be hurt. At the same time, the more sensitive a spirit is, the easier it is for God to reach that person and deal with that person giving you a revelation of His will and spiritual guidance.
Those who show mercy are caring people who are happy to give their time to others. Most of us have learned how to pretend to love others. How to speak kindly, and to avoid hurting others feelings and appear to take an interest in them. We may even have the skill of pretending we feel moved with compassion when we hear other’s needs or become indignant when we learn of injustice. We have to learn how to touch people where they hurt. Because the gift of mercy carries with it the ability to sense genuine love, it, therefore, also carries with it a greater vulnerability to deeper, and more frequent hurts from those who fail to demonstrate sincere love.
Now, generally, the concept of mercy gets scrambled up with the concept of grace. And we talk about God’s grace and God’s mercy and sometimes we don’t distinguish them. Grace is related to guilt, mercy is related to misery. Grace is God taking care of our sin. Mercy is God taking care of the mess we’re in, our situation. It is connected to misery rather than sin. Those with the gift of mercy are reluctant to speak against any person, regardless of what they have done. The danger of course, is that they may not speak up in times when they should confront evil. Mercy must always be balanced with justice. God is always merciful, but it is equally true that God is always just.
Do you have a real heart for people? Do you feel tenderness toward others? Are you concerned with finding ways of showing kindness? You may have the gift of mercy. Forgiving or showing others mercy is not easy. It costs, it is a sacrifice. But with God’s grace, we can do many things that otherwise would seem to be impossible. We expect to receive God’s forgiveness and he does free us if we repent, no matter how serious our sin may be. We should do the same with anyone who offended or hurt us. The person who offended us may not deserve our mercy, but that is not the point. We do not deserve to be forgiven by God, yet “God shows his love for us in that, while we were sinners Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
“Justice is for those who deserve it; mercy is for those who don’t.”- Woodrow Kroll
Live life, give people hope and share your heart, wisdom and resources. Never place a period where God says there should be a comma.
As always peace and blessings, be safe. Take advantage of your opportunities but never allow your opportunities to take advantage of you. Remember God loves you and so do I. ©krw 4.3.18
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