“Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart,
for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:7-10. (NAB)
I have hanging on the wall in my living room, a beautifully framed manuscript of the fifth chapter of Matthew, which is the Beatitudes. It’s easier to have it hanging on my wall than to plant it in my heart for daily living. I find that once I start obsessing over someone who offended me, it grows into a snowball effect and soon I find I’m sitting on a mountain of resentment.
Thicker skin and a thankful heart are the two essentials needed to pursue if I am to ever live as a Christian. The people we quickly bond with and admire are far fewer than the number of people we misunderstand or feel nothing in common with. Whether it is true within our churches or in the world, we are all going to encounter people we don’t understand, or maybe don’t even like. We are faced with the constant challenge of being merciful to those who offend us.
Thankfully, we were never commanded to like our neighbor, but we are commanded to love them. Loving them would require seeing people through God’s eyes, treating them with respect, and not being triggered by their offenses. We don’t have to bond with every person we interact with but we are to respond according to the beatitudes, instead of reacting in oversensitivity to our feelings. We may never understand some people but if we thicken our skin, we can still look for something to be thankful for, turning our focus to God, not on our feelings. If I first thicken my skin from being overly sensitive, it’s easier to look for things I am thankful for.
If we are being mistreated because of our faith, that’s a different story, and the beatitudes tell us to consider ourselves blessed, when suffering for the sake of righteousness. Paul tells us to resist sin even to the point of shedding blood. (Hebrews 12:4)
Lord, help us to be peacemakers, and to plant your beatitudes in our hearts by being thankful and merciful to those who offend us. Amen