Blessed Mercy

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. ~ Matthew 5:7

A merciful heart is a compassionate and forgiving heart.  Is that you?  Unfortunately, Christians don’t always live up to this and therefore tend to be more like the world than Christ-like. We tend to hold grudges and hold onto hurt.  We are quick to talk about compassion and forgiveness, but are not great at dishing it out.  We talk the talk, but don’t always walk the walk and people are more interested in our actions than our words.  They are watching.  Being merciful is a result of spiritual growth that allows us to deal with the hurt, pain and suffering when we are wronged.  Dealing with the sin towards us in this broken world the way Christ has dealt with us.  We are all suffering and sinners in this world and how we deal with it is a measure of growth and the Holy Spirit in us.  A merciful person doesn’t beat people over their heads with their sin, or continue to hold things over people’s heads about what they may have done, or what they deserve, but instead they open their arms to them and show compassion and forgiveness.  Isn’t that what Christ does for us?  Isn’t that what He did for us on the cross?  He opened His arms and paid the price for my sins, no questions asked.  No hard feelings.  As a follower of Christ, we are to do the same.  Not so we can be doormates, but that we can be light in a broken world and the same mercy can be shown to us.  Lamentations 3:22-23 says, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning: great is your faithfulness.”  God grants us new mercies everyday because we are all sinners.  Will we be merciful to those in need?  To those who have hurt us?  I need mercy everyday and so do the people in my life.  Without mercy we would be a bunch of miserable people without real relationships.  We would be holding hurts and thinking only of ourselves.  If I wasn’t shown mercy by people in my life, I would be all alone.  No one deserves to be all alone and unforgiven.  As much as I have been given mercy, a pardoning of my wrongs and compassion, I pray Jesus would help me show His goodness in the same way. ~ Amen