"May we always be merciful, full of compassion, just as The Father is merciful" - Luke 6:36.
The bible is so full of this prayer. Mercy! Lord have mercy! Lord, have mercy on our land, our nation, our family, me! And even - Lord have mercy on my enemies! It's amazing as I was studying this virtue in the scriptures how connected all the virtues are to each other! Salvation - Grace - Love - honesty and integrity - self control - justice - and now mercy. Do you see the connection as you read the words? I've read somewhere before that grace is getting what you DON'T deserve, and mercy is NOT getting what you DO deserve. As we think of it, how true it is!
Our God is so merciful and good. He has so much patience with the people He created. Such wonderful mercy. Hard to even fathom it! And we are called to do the same! Oh my. Throughout history, we can see how merciful our God has been. We see it all through the bible. The bible is so full of all these virtues.
All of us, with some thought, could come up with many of our own stories of how Christ has shown us mercy in our lives. Offering hope when we felt hopeless, forgiveness when we felt unforgivable, and healing when we were broken. But then, that has always been the heart of Christ. Just look at the New Testament! And the old testament, too. Mercy and compassion everywhere. Read Psalm 51 - "Have mercy on me, oh Lord", Read Psalm 74 - a nation in trouble prays for God's mercy. Read Psalm 78 - read how God always had mercy on His people! Matthew 9:36 says, "He felt great pity for the crowds that came, because their problems were so great and they didn't know where to go for help. They were like sheep without a shepherd." In Mark 8:2-3 Jesus again shows compassion and mercy: "I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat." There are many, many stories in the bible of God's mercy. In fact, everything about Jesus's ministery was about mercy. Again and again he put the concerns and feeling of others above himself. Then finally, in the greatest and most merciful act of all human history, Jesus went to the cross, taking all of our mistakes upon himself and making an eternity in heaven, with Our Father, possible for all of us.
With such an example of mercy as our Lord, how can we not hunger for a closer relationship with him? If we love him, how can we not strive to be there for one another as he has been there for us? Our Lord is the very face of compassion and mercy. Let us show this same compassion and mercy to all we come in touch with, so that all will know that he is a wonderful, merciful Savior.
Maybe we can share the many different ways we've been shown mercy and compassion by our Lord. And by those in our lives.
Here is a challenge for us - "You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate." (Luke 6:36)
And a promise - "God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy."
Matthew 5:7
2 comments:
I do believe God has much compassion and mercy on our nation. I'm sure he sheds tears of sorrow over us every day, just as he wept over Jeruselum!
There is certainly a whole lot of meat in this teaching, Lonnie. In reading Psalm 51, verses 16 & 17 really stand out. God wants us to come before Him with all honesty, baring our soul and being truly sorry for our sins. This is more important to Him than any kind of sacrafice we might offer to Him.
God has shown me much mercy throughout my life. I am not sure how to pinpoint one incident. He showed me mercy when He accepted me into the fold with a powerful experience, even though I had strayed far, far off the road to Heaven and had a past filled with the sins of my youth. He shows His mercy through my daughters who forgive me of my shortcomings as a parent and help me in so many ways. He shows mercy through my sisters, who love me unconditionally even though I have not always been a good sister to them. He has shown mercy to me through the friends He has put in my life to help me with my Christian walk. He shows mercy to me every time I feel His presencein a powerful way and it reassures me that all is well, He loves me and guides me even though I've done nothing to deserve His mercy. Our God is an awesome God!!
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