Month: April 2023

“To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”

Romans 8:6 (RSV)

We set our TV and radio channels where we want them, but we seldom think of setting our minds on the best channel. What we allow into our minds does eventually affect us. The shows we watch and the music we listen to, very subtly affects us over time. It doesn’t equate to sin, but it loosens and pulls at our deeper convictions, subtly opening us up to the ways of the flesh and the deceit of our current culture. It requires a conscious effort to set our minds on the Spirit, to control what flows into our mind through the influences all around us. God gives us His Spirit and His truth to bring us life and peace. We cannot afford an opening that allows the flesh in, or the lies of the devil. I found such a difference by controlling what programs or movies I watch and what music I listen to. There’s a battle for our souls, and the devil’s goal is to rob us of our peace, and only we can stay alert and guard our own minds. Scripture seems to teach us that there are only two channel options for our mind, the flesh or the spirit. Paul tells us that Christ has set us free, but we should not use our freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. The deeds of the flesh are listed as hatred, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfishness, impurity and envy. Sometimes things creep into our minds, and before we know it, our mind is set on that flesh. Once we let something into our mind, it makes a home there. We need to seal the opening.

For two summers in a row, I fought a battle with houseflies. There were swarms of them in my basement, and when I called an exterminator, they said they don’t come out for flies, but they advised me to find the dead animal that had to be somewhere in my basement, since that is what draws flies in large amounts.  My neighbor walked through the basement with me and we could not smell or see anything dead, so I bought fly bait and swept away dead flies all summer long. This went on for two years. Last year a mouse ran out of my dryer vent and I thought, now what? Flies, mice, what’s next, the ten plagues? I called an exterminator for a mouse inspection and they found three openings in my basement that allowed mice in, and  they even found a few dead mice behind an exterior wall in my basement. That solved the mystery of the dead bodies attracting the flies. They sealed all the holes, cleaned and sanitized everything and no mice or flies ever returned. 

Critters of all kinds will creep into openings in our home, if we leave unsealed openings, the same way the devil creeps into our thought life. Just as it takes something dead to attract flies, the devil tries to place his dead, fleshly thoughts into our minds. Even sadness, depression, and self pity is an unsealed opening for his ideas to enter and take over. 

It can turn a small opening into a major captivity of depression. We block every opening and keep his thoughts out, if we fill our minds with whatever is godly, with Christian TV, Christian radio, books, tapes and scriptures, and seal our minds with the Spirit, and giving no opportunity for the flesh.

Lord, sanctify our minds today, and lead us to fill ourselves with good things that nourish our spirit and not our flesh. Holy Spirit, guard our minds with your peace and fill us with more of you. Amen

“Then I looked and there was a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud one who looked like a son of man, with a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.”

Revelation 14:14 ( NAB)

The word Hallelujah is actually two Hebrew words: Hillel (praise) and Yahweh (Lord). “HillelYaweh” which turned into one word, “Hallelujah”.

So it is literally saying “Praise the Lord.” Angels sang Hallelujahs during the highlighted events of Jesus’ time on earth. The first time was when the Son of God was born, but there was no room for Him in the Inn. As He lay in a stable, the vision of angels singing Hallelujahs appeared to shepherds, while they were watching their flocks. I’m sure another time that Hallelujahs were sung in heaven, was as angels rolled the stone away from the tomb, when Jesus rose from the dead. It was the most powerful moment in history, an event that forever divided time from B.C. to A. D.  

We will sing Hallelujah as long as we live because it expresses praise to the Lord. There is a personal Hallelujah moment for each of us, when we invited Jesus into our own Inn, our life. After we receive His Spirit, He remodels our Inn by His resurrection power. He is gradually transforming us during our faith journey, taking us through the steps to becoming better, making us into a new creation. With Jesus dwelling within us, we are empowered to walk out of any tomb that holds us down. He wants us to walk in freedom, and He promised us we can do even greater things if we believe, and that deserves a Hallelujah! There is one more day coming when Hallelujahs will be sung from Heaven, loud and clear, for the world to hear. Through John’s vision in Revelation, we get a tiny peek into Heaven, and it’s filled with images of worship, thunder, smoke, incense, trumpets, harps, a golden altar, angels and all the saints of God singing praises. Just reading about, overwhelms our senses, with that combination of sights and sounds. John also heard a great multitude in heaven saying, “Alleluia! Salvation, glory, and might belong to our God, for true and just are his judgments.” (Revelation 19:1) He described one of his many visions of Jesus, as sitting on a white cloud with a gold crown on His head and a sickle in His hand. The good shepherd who died to save us will return to the earth one day, crowned as the King of Kings, to render His final judgement. It makes me wonder why Hallelujahs would be sung on the day of judgement. Maybe because we will all be amazed to see the people who finally received His offer of mercy, especially those who we knew and prayed for. That leaves only one word that can adequately express the gratitude, awe and glory of that moment; and it’s Hallelujah! It’s a word that seals our confession of faith, of everything we ever believed about Jesus, from His birth, death, resurrection, to His final judgement. It is the song that forever belongs to the Lord Jesus. To Him who was, and is and is to come, no other words suffice except “Hallelujah! Amen.

“Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out; and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”

John 12:31-32 (RSV)

There’s an old classic gospel hymn called “Lift high the cross.” I never learned to play an instrument but my mother once bought us a Magnus chord organ, that came with a play by number songbook. Some time after giving my life to Jesus, I was excited to pull that organ out of the closet and play gospel hymns by number. One of the songs in the book was “Lift high the cross” and the lyrics of the chorus followed, “the love of Christ proclaim, till all the world adore His sacred name.” I was meditating on those lyrics today, and also thinking about Jesus coming into the world as a baby. When Mary held Him in her arms, she probably hoped He would be lifted up in the sense of receiving the glory and honor that He was worthy of. She might have imagined that people everywhere would praise her son, their Messiah, and adore His sacred name. He was lifted up, but probably not the way she expected Him to be. Instead of being lifted up in honor, He was lifted up on a cross. Lifting Jesus up had a dual meaning, and Mary received a hint about it from Simeon’s prophecy, warning her that a sword would pierce her heart. It’s possible she didn’t fully understand how much her innocent baby would grow up to suffer as the sacrificial lamb of God. Like any other baby, He looked at His mother’s face, with a sense of security, love and comfort. Like any mother, she had a natural maternal instinct to protect and keep her child safe from harm. I don’t think Mary or any disciples fully grasped how much Jesus was going to suffer. She didn’t need to see the full picture of her son’s destiny, she only needed to live in faith one day at a time, to what God called to do, in fulfilling the role of being His mother. 

God, in His compassion, will not reveal everything to us ahead of time. He wants us all to walk by faith one day at a time. If I think about the most difficult life experiences I ever went through, I would never want to know ahead of time what I was going to face. It’s better to go through life, trusting God, and not knowing everything the future brings. Jesus said He would be lifted up from the earth, and draw all men to Himself. He was lifted up in more ways than one. He was lifted up in glory before the world began, then He appeared to the world and was lifted up on a cross of suffering, but now He is alive forever and continues to be lifted up as the King of glory in heaven. We who believe, lift high His cross, celebrate His resurrection and proclaim His love, until the day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. Thank you, Lord, for leaving your former glory in heaven to become our innocent lamb of God. You were lifted up and gave yourself for us, and now we lift you up in our hearts, which are filled with thanksgiving, praise and worship for you. Amen

“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”

(John 1:29)

“I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.”

John 17:15-16 (NAB)

This scripture is just one line taken from Jesus’ lengthy prayer for His church before He went to the cross. His prayer is literally the entire 17th chapter of John’s gospel. It’s fascinating to see how Jesus once prayed for us. He even thanked His Father, calling us a gift. (John 17:24) He prayed that while we remain in this world, we won’t belong to it and that we would be kept from the evil one. We live between two worlds, doing the will of God while we are here and resisting evil in a world that is ruled by the devil. In His prayer for us, Jesus asserts that He and His church are in the world, but are not “of” the world.  If we are in the world but not of the world, then we dwell in a place between two worlds. Whenever we feel like we are stuck in a middle place, we can remember what Jesus said. We might be between two places, two longings, feeling two loyalties to two different worlds, but we continue to seek God’s will for our lives. That’s when we remember that Jesus prayed for us. He prayed, asking His Father to keep us from the evil one, while we remain in this world. Isn’t it good to know that Jesus once prayed for us? He was also very familiar with being in the middle. He was in a middle place between the self righteous, aloof Pharisees and a group of simple, carnal minded disciples. Both groups  were people He loved and came to give His life for. One group took the commandments to extremes having no compassion, and the other group was full of compassion for Jesus but didn’t quite get the point of what He was teaching them. Jesus, being divine, surely loved both groups and felt deep grief for their souls, which led Him to pray that His followers would carry on the faith as He intended. We can sometimes feel like we’re in the middle, between those who share our faith and those who don’t, especially among friends and family. At the last supper Jesus sat between Judas, His betrayer and John, His friend who adored Him. John demonstrated constant affection for Jesus and Judas pretended to love Him but sold Him out behind His back. Then He was in the middle as He died between two crucified criminals, one who cursed Him and the other who repented and believed in Him. Jesus knew what it was like to be stuck in the middle. 

Paul was in the middle as he felt torn between two worlds, one here on earth full of sinners who needed to hear the gospel, or the afterlife where he could be in perfect peace with the Lord, who he loved and longed for. He summed up his feeling by saying, “To live is Christ, but to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)

Being in the middle is not an easy place to be. Some believers who converted to faith in Jesus, came out of a background of Judaism or Islam. They now live between two worlds; a personal love for Jesus as Lord, and their love for their family and friends, who have completely disowned them for leaving the faith. It’s a huge cross to bear, when receiving Jesus alienates someone from those who they love. It leaves them stuck between two worlds. That is what Jesus meant when He said “I didn’t come to bring peace in the world, but a sword.” He warned that a person’s enemies could be the ones in their own household. (Matthew 10:34-36)

Yet, if God is for us, who can be against us?  We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Whatever position we find ourselves in, when it feels like we are between two worlds, or when we feel stuck in some kind of a middle place, we are not there alone. Jesus is there with us, He already prayed for us and with Him all things are possible. Thomas More once said “Times are never so bad that a good man cannot live in them.” A good man or a good woman has the Spirit of Christ living within them, and greater is He that is living within us than He that is in the world. (1 John 4:4)

Lord strengthen us who feel stuck in the middle today to do your will and bring all who are around us to a saving faith in you. Amen

“Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”

Psalm 139:7-10 (NIV)

Since a previous meditation was about finding our divine purpose and living to fulfill it, this is part two of that message. I need to clarify that I haven’t lived my entire Christian life in obedience to His divine purpose. After living for myself much of the time, missing many opportunities and stumbling in and out of sin, I am nothing more than an example of someone who has received more of God’s patience, grace and mercy than I ever deserved. In my late twenties I ignored the prompting of the Spirit to share my faith with a coworker, and a few weeks later, that coworker committed suicide. After that, evangelism became a passion for me and will continue to give me a sense of purpose. I never want to miss my cue again, and twenty years later, I shared my faith with another coworker and prayed with him. He invited Jesus to take over his stress filled life and was so grateful, that he wrote a letter thanking me, before he and his family moved out of state to take a new job. There’s no greater satisfaction than knowing we said the right thing to someone at the right time. In spite of the highs and lows of my obedience, God has been more merciful to me than I could ever expect. He gives us all a chance to start over, and to make up for our past failures. It’s why I believe in the great commission. When Jesus said to go into the world and preach the gospel to every person, He wasn’t speaking only to ordained ministers. Anyone can share their faith with an acquaintance who is going through a divorce, or with the parent whose teenager has suicidal tendencies, or with someone who just received a serious medical diagnosis. Evangelism is reaching out to anyone, wherever they are, with the simple faith as we know it and live it, day to day. I pray a very simple yet  powerful prayer each day by asking, “Holy Spirit, fill me with more of you.” When I pray that prayer, sometimes it brings an opportunity to share my faith, and there are rare moments when I experience an emotional surge of His presence. It happened recently while I was driving to do a routine errand. I had an inspiring thought which I quickly wrote down at a stoplight, to use in an upcoming meditation, and it felt like the Holy Spirit was right in the car with me. There was an overwhelming presence of God’s love and I was wiping my tears at every stoplight after that, all the way home. By the time I got home, I was wiped out, but in a good way. It was as if the scripture came to life that reads, 

“If we will draw near to God, He will draw near to us.”(James 4:8)

When the disciples met the resurrected Jesus walking on the road to Emmaus, even before recognizing Him, they urged Him to stay with them. His presence made them want more of Him, and His presence is the same today. He is pleased when we desire Him, more than what He does for us. The Lord is gracious and compassionate, always willing to manifest His presence in the most unlikely places and times, because He loved us first, and He desires to be loved for who He is, the same as we do. Lord, manifest your presence to every reader today, by your Holy Spirit, and let them sense the overwhelming love that you have for them. Amen

“Even to your old age I will be the same, And even to your graying years I will carry you. I have done it, and I will bear you; And I will carry you and I will save you.”

Isaiah 46:4 (NIV)

In a little over five months, I will leave my sixties, and turn seventy. It’s always strange to ponder a new decade of life, but every year we are given, is a gift from God. I don’t feel any older with the exception of my hands and feet, which I consider to be the oldest parts of my body. My feet have bunions and my hands are arthritic. My right hand particularly, has knuckles so swollen, and fingers so crooked, my mobility in that hand is limited. Aside from that, age is merely a number to me. I know it sounds like a cliche, but the advantage of aging is the same one as the aging of a good wine. We have the opportunity to get better over the years, through the changes and life lessons learned over a lifetime. Getting older reminds us of our purpose here, and it’s essential to live with a sense of Spirit driven purpose. Dwight L Moody said about aging, “Preparation for old age should begin not later than one’s teens. A life which is empty of purpose until 65 will not suddenly become filled on retirement.” It’s so true, and when we live with a sense of divine purpose, getting older really does result in getting wiser, and the longer we live, the more we learn, based on our many decades of trial and failure. Since all things work together for good according to “His purpose,” we need to get busy and live out His purpose. It doesn’t help to look back at our faults and failures, because we can start fresh today to live out the remaining purpose God intended for our lives. If we have been hurt by someone, we can make the choice to become the kind of person we once needed when we were hurting, and not be like the people who hurt us. Some find God’s purpose for their lives early in the journey of faith, but God may also birth a new purpose for us in our later years. Having a God given purpose, is like having Jesus in our boat when the storm comes. He won’t test us beyond what we can endure and He is forever standing at the helm of our boat, speaking to us in our storm saying things like “Peace, be still”, and “I will never leave you or forsake you”. We will never have to ride through a storm alone, because He is steering the boat, but we control what direction we look in. We must keep looking forward to our destination. The Lord may permit dark clouds to enter our lives at times, but any dark cloud permitted by Jesus is going to be silver lined. We may not understand why some things had to be, and we all have questions to ask God some day. Most people’s questions pertain to why, when or how a loved one died. For now, those questions remain a mystery, but we will have all of eternity to learn the answers. For now it’s not about why, only who. We know who we have believed in and He is able to keep us until that day. We know who loves us most with an everlasting, unconditional love and He has a perfect plan for us. I don’t know what the future holds for me in my seventies, but I know who holds my future, and He’s the same one who holds my crippled arthritic right hand every day. Thank you, Jesus, for carrying us all through our graying years, and for keeping us with your amazing unchanging love and faithfulness. We put our hand in yours, and look forward to fulfilling your purpose in our lives. Amen

“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”

John 1:48-49 (NIV)

John’s gospel doesn’t explain what happened in Nathanael’s life or the story behind him sitting under the fig tree, but when Jesus said those words to him, his heart was instantly touched and he believed. Maybe John didn’t give any details because he hoped readers like us, would relate it to our own situation. 

We’ve all had fig tree moments like Nathanael. Jesus knows our story and saw everything we have struggled with. He saw us during the hardest times, when that something happened, which momentarily felt like our hopes and dreams were shattered. 

There are fig tree moments in everyone’s life, and that’s why we can relate to whatever Nathanael’s were. Jesus only said seven words to him, “I saw you under the fig tree.” Those powerful words said it all for Nathanael. Sometimes we just need to know God is there, that He knows us and sees us. 

For Nathanael, it was a confirmation that Jesus was God and could see and know all about what was crushing his spirit at the time. Whether his fig tree moment was a feeling of overwhelming grief, unworthiness, isolation, doubt or some desperate fear, it was a turning point for him, just knowing that the Son of God saw him. 

Those seven words of Jesus, “I saw you under the fig tree,” renewed his faith and restored his hope. Until our problems are solved, and our prayers are answered, we keep hoping in Jesus, and He gives us the comfort of knowing that we are seen and known by God. He sees and knows us because He individually loves us.

Our difficult times are not the end of our story, and we don’t remain for a lifetime under our fig trees. In His love for us, Jesus travels this journey with us and has always shared every fig tree moment with us. He is taking us forward to better days. 

We can look back at some crushing time in our lives and know that God still had good plans for us, and brought us through to so much. Therefore, since He did it before, we can trust Him to do it again. 

Fig tree moments also remind me of a verse that Paul told the Corinthian church, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed,”

(2 Corinthians 4:8-9)

Paul described a catalog of his own suffering, for readers to identify with. Even in all these things, the negative never prevails; there is always some experience of rescue, of the presence of Christ and His eternal salvation. He rescues our hope, our faith and our spiritual self esteem, before rescuing us from actual the problem. We can say, like Paul, when we feel weak, we are actually strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10)

It is the presence of Christ who keeps us from becoming perplexed, or driven to despair. We are never destroyed because there is power in Jesus’ name, and He never forsakes us. 

The psalmist wrote, “God is near to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

(Psalm 34:18) When we suffer, Jesus is nearer to us than ever, especially since He was acquainted with sorrow and grief more than anyone. That’s why He sees us under our fig trees.

Jesus speaks these same words to each of our hearts today, “I saw you under the fig tree,” which has particular meaning to our personal lives. When we close our eyes and tell Him that we know He is near, He will make His presence real in some way, and send comfort and assurance in the midst of our affliction. 

Lord, comfort and restore our hearts today, as you have seen and known each of us during our recent fig tree moments. Renew our hope and faith, and send your blessed Presence to each reader, filling us with your love, joy and peace. Amen

“Fear not, for I am with you,
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.”

Isaiah 42:10 (RSV)

The Easter season is God’s call to the helpless, the dismayed, the weak and the fearful. Since Jesus died for all of them, the Spirit of God is moving through these weeks that follow Easter, still drawing many hearts closer to Him. I hope that one of those hearts would be a childhood acquaintance who messages me from time to time, from Israel where he now lives. He has been slightly handicapped for most of his life since being hit by a car as a child. The accident happened right on the street that I grew up on, in Chicago. He recovered from the head trauma of that accident, but it left him with a permanent tremor in one hand and a walk with a limp ever since. He was able to finish school and even complete some years of college before moving to Israel. A few months ago he fell and dislocated his shoulder while out of the country on a vacation. The local hospital had no shoulder specialists, but they aggressively tried to put his shoulder back into place, which resulted in permanent nerve damage. As a result, his good arm is now limp and paralyzed, while his other arm has a tremor from his childhood trauma. Sadly, he is now more physically handicapped than ever before, but he manages to continue living on his own in his apartment in Israel. Sabbath hospitality is a top priority to the Israeli people. The sabbath meal that follows a synagogue service, every Friday at sundown, is very important and a family will invite a total stranger to their home for the sabbath meal if they have no where else to go. One family from his synagogue invited him to join them for a sabbath meal at their home last Friday, after the synagogue service. He dressed himself and started down the stairs of his apartment, but tripped and fell down the stairs. He wasn’t hurt but after seeing that his clothes were dirty, he returned to his apartment to change into clean clothes. By the time he made it to the synagogue, the service was over, and the doors were locked. The congregation of people were all gone and he asked some passers by, if they knew where the family lived who invited him for sabbath dinner, but they didn’t know the family. The people passing by invited him to their own sabbath dinner, so he was able to enjoy a sabbath meal with a hospitable family afterall. When he told me this story, he said it felt like God was looking out for him, but after hearing the chain of events and all the difficulties he had, it still broke my heart. I thought of the many other handicapped people in the world who live alone, barely managing their own care, and trying to get where they need to go. God surely looks with compassion on people of all faith backgrounds, whose daily struggle leaves them feeling helpless due to their physical challenges. I assured my friend that I would be praying that God continues to look out for him, with many more acts of grace and mercy. I sent him today’s scripture verse, to which he replied “Amen.” He said that he felt better just knowing that I listened to his story. I’m thankful he was comforted, but I pray that he would come to believe in Jesus, and to have regular fellowship with the one who suffered and died for him. Today, I pray God upholds anyone who feels dismayed or alone and that He will reveal His presence to them. I also pray for those who are living alone with any type of physical disability, and ask Jesus, our risen Lord, to reveal Himself and to uphold them with His victorious right hand, through many acts of grace and mercy. Amen

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Matthew 6:34 (NIV)

Jesus said each day has enough trouble of its own, and He doesn’t advise us to get caught up in worry about the future or to grieve too long over past sorrows or offenses. It will only compound the problems of today. He knows what we went through in our past, and He understands what we worry about in our future, but He has something special for us to receive today. Worrying about a future situation leads to anxiety, and dwelling on the past can lead to depression. In this scripture, Jesus tells us that each day has enough problems of it’s own, and His advice is to live in the present, not the past or the future. He said in the Lord’s Prayer, to ask God for our daily bread, which has been God’s message all along, going back to the days of Moses, when the manna fell from heaven each day. Manna, the heavenly bread, could only be gathered fresh each day. It couldn’t be collected and saved for the future or it would quickly rot. God is trying to keep us living in the present, for the sake of our mental and spiritual health. He is teaching this message to us not only through the manna from heaven story, but also in the story of the widow of Zarephath. After she gave the last of her flour and oil to feed the prophet Elijah, she received an endless supply of flour and oil in her jars, for days afterward. She received it fresh each day, not in a lump sum. God supplied her needs during a major drought and famine, but He did it one day at a time. It seems clear that God is trying to tell us through these stories, that He intends to give us all the help we need, but only one day at a time. Living in the present sounds hard to do, but it’s God’s prescription for our peace of mind. Jesus is teaching us to take this day’s concerns, and bring them to Him. Then we are to do the same thing tomorrow, and repeat the next day, and so on.  Each day can only care for its own problems, so He wants us to gather from Him fresh each day, just like the manna from heaven. Jesus called Himself the bread of heaven, and He is our daily bread, meaning we receive what He has for us fresh each day. Like the widow of Zarephath, our jars will be refilled, one day at a time. What He wants to give us today is different from yesterday, and it’s not the same as what He has for us tomorrow. It’s time to live in the present, and to raise our expectations as we arise each morning, and see what He has for us today. Jesus, you are the Lord of today, we surrender all worry and anxiety to you, casting all our cares upon you. We expect with open hearts to receive something special from you, as a sign of your daily Presence and your love that is with us now and throughout this day. Amen

“For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy; yet mercy triumphs over judgment.”

James 2:13 (RSV)

Mercy is the most unusual gift, it is both awesome and frightening. It’s awesome because it’s given freely to all of us who are undeserving. As freely as we receive it, we are expected to show mercy to that person we know who is also very undeserving. Its easy to show mercy to someone who we genuinely like, or feel true pity and compassion for. It’s the hardest virtue to live out, when we come up against a person who mistreats or betrays us, or hurts our loved ones, for no reason. Jesus spoke about mercy, not only in parables like the Good Samaritan, the merciful master and unmerciful servants, but He mentions it in the beatitudes sermon, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy”. When we stop to think about it, receiving mercy or showing mercy leads to eternal consequences. It’s a very real issue for the day of judgement. We are invited to freely receive His mercy to be saved, and we also need to show it to others, or we are accountable to God on that day. If there has ever been a person who didn’t deserve your kindness, but you showed it anyway, that is mercy. Mercy is the first lesson we experience in life. Without mercy, we are born as cold, helpless, naked and hungry infants. It’s the mercy of God that we are nurtured, fed, clothed and loved by at least one or two parents. As we grow in the faith, mercy is the best kept secret of Satan. He doesn’t want humanity to know how great God’s mercy can be, because we would then discover how much He really loves us. Instead of surrendering our lives to a merciful God, Satan would rather see us live a defeated life with unresolved guilt and feelings of unworthiness. Satan doesn’t mind that we regularly attend church, as long as we refuse to receive the fulness of God’s mercy or to show mercy to others. A death bed conversion is mercy at its highest power, forgiving the undeserving of all sin just before their death. While Jesus was forgiving one thief on the cross, He never answered the other one, who was cursing Him the whole time. God pours out His mercy and love to all people, but He searches the earth for anyone who will receive it, like the thief on the cross did. Mercy does triumph over judgement and it snatches souls before they head straight for the flames of hell. After we receive His mercy, Jesus simply desires that we show it to others. Every father wants his children to reflect his traits and mercy is how we show that we are children of our Father in heaven. If mercy means that much to Jesus, let’s pray to have more of it. Lord, thank you for your boundless mercy that searches in the world’s darkest places to find the cold, wretched blind and naked souls to save. Grant that we, who have received your mercy, can show your mercy to others.