“God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7, NLT).
You and I are completely undeserving of the great mercy our Lord has shown us. We have been and can be very unmerciful even though we have been granted great mercy. Why is it so hard for us to understand, our giving of mercy reflects the mercy given us?
We are not in need of mercy in token amounts, like finding a coin on the street, but we are in need of a great amount of mercy as in an unexpected windfall of an inheritance from a wealthy relative. In fact, we are in need of even more than an unexpected windfall of mercy. Most of the time our sin has caused great damage to ourselves and to others, leaving lingering consequences and massive amounts of regret in our lives. We need massive compassionate love and forgiveness for our sins that can be found only in the mercy of God. Only the mercy of God can open the door for the grace of God to rebuild, repay and redeem our debt to those who were and are damaged by our sins.
We are given a new life by the mercy of God. We are utterly hopeless in our sins without the mercy of God. Praise be to God, for it is He who sees us in our hopelessness and loving redeem us from the penalty of our sin that we so rightly deserve (Romans 5:8). When we are given God’s mercy through Jesus Christ, we have life in His name. How can we not give mercy, when we only have salvation and a new life by God’s mercy?
When we withhold mercy from others, we are shutting off the work of the Holy Spirit in revealing God’s mercy to others. The mercy we would give in our human capacities is quite limited, but the mercy that flows through us by the power of the Holy Spirit is vast in its capacity. Our failure to show mercy does not reflect the God of mercy who redeemed us but only our own self-centered ungrateful and unmerciful hearts. Surrender your heart to the mercy that has saved you, and let His mercy and grace change you. You can only be blessed by God when you are truly merciful to others!
Connecting with Christ Bible Reading … Matthew 18
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