“Because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”
James 2:13 (NIV)
Mercy is both awesome and frightening. It’s awesome because it’s given freely to all of us who are undeserving. It’s frightening because it’s the hardest virtue to live out, yet it affects our eternity. It’s easy to show mercy to someone who we genuinely like, or feel true pity and compassion for, but when we come up against a person who mistreats or betrays us, or hurts our loved ones, the hardest thing is to live out the beatitude of showing mercy. Jesus said “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy”. All that Jesus taught was radically different than typical first century Palestinian morality. Instead of an eye for an eye, He taught that by showing mercy, we would receive mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgement. When we stop to think about it, receiving mercy or showing mercy both have eternal consequences. We are invited to freely receive God’s mercy to be saved, but we also need to show mercy, or else we will be accountable to God one day. If there has ever been a person who didn’t deserve your kindness, but you showed it anyway, that is mercy. Mercy is our first 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. Satan despises God’s mercy and would rather see us live a defeated life with unresolved guilt and feelings of unworthiness. A death bed conversion is mercy at its highest power, forgiving the undeserving of all sin just before their death. God pours out His mercy and love to all people, and then He searches the earth for anyone who will receive it, as the thief on the cross did. Mercy triumphs over judgement and snatches souls out of the pathway to hell. After we receive His mercy, Jesus desires that we show it to others. Every father wants his children to reflect his good traits and in showing mercy, we reflect the traits of our Father in heaven. If mercy means that much to Jesus and His father, then we all need to have more of it.
Lord, thank you for your abundant mercy that searches the darkness to find all the blind and lost souls to save. Grant that we, who have received your abundant mercy, may show mercy to others. Amen