Be Merciful

Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. ~ Luke 6:36

Jesus just gets done telling his followers that they should love their enemies and now he is telling them to be kind and merciful to them no matter what they may have done to them.  Many of us have been hurt by people and sometimes there is no explanation for their harshness, but we still need to look at them with kindness and look at them with sincere care.  I don’t know about you, but I need to work on this big time.  Sometimes I can get so caught up looking at the hurt that someone has caused me that I become engulfed and my heart can harden towards them.  I could care less.  If you hurt me, or my family, it’s grudge holding time, but that’s not how God would want us to act.  Over the years, I have intentionally worked on this and it takes practice.  I am by no means there yet, but I have an easier time these days when I step back and realize that they may be lost….and so then I pray that God would bless them and let the offense go.  Now I still believe that boundaries need to be set up sometimes and I don’t believe Jesus would ever want us to show our kindness by staying in an abusive, or violent relationship.  Please get out and get help!  I believe this verse specifically calls for us to be merciful when we are being persecuted for our belief in God.  I could be wrong, but I don’t believe God is asking you to be merciful to abuse.  There is a difference between abuse and conflict.  We are talking more along the lines of disagreements and conflicts.  Get out of abuse!  Sometimes showing mercy is taking yourself out of a situation, calling for help, or just by bringing groceries to the lonely, grouchy old couple who live next door.  Two years ago, God granted me the biggest opportunity for showing mercy I have ever experienced yet.  And he used my own son.  Isaac has, as the saying goes, been too smart for his own good.  But by his sophomore year in high school, he was headed for disaster.  Honestly, I don’t remember much of his junior year, but I do know there were at least two suicide attempts.  By his senior year, you name the drug and he was using it.  We were in a spiritual war.  I chewed off God’s ear and wore the carpet out with my knees near my bed praying.  One night, and I am not going to get into great detail, but one evening in June 2022 he became extremely agitated with me and his father.  He started throwing things and cursed loudly non-stop at us.  I heard “call the police” in my head.  My husband didn’t think it was a good idea, but I knew where that voice was coming from.  The next thing I remember is talking to dispatch while I watched my son and husband get physical with each other.  You see, when I grabbed the phone, my son grabbed a knife and now my husband was trying to wrestle it away from him.  Long story short, two sheriff deputies showed up at my house and hauled our 18 year old son away.  It was a terrible night.  The worst one so far in my life.  Awful.  Sad.  Cried ourselves to sleep.  So many questions.  I don’t know how I stayed calm on the phone (divine intervention), but two years later he is on the right path.  He was sent to a mental health facility where he was finally properly diagnosed with a mood disorder and ADHD.  Two weeks later we were able to bring him home and with the right medication and counseling improvement was almost immediate.  I tell you this story because even though calling the police on my son was not the “nicest” thing to do, I knew that it was the only thing to do.  We had to get him help and I knew he wasn’t going to listen to us.  We learned, while he was at the facility, that he was probably experiencing a “manic” episode that night; which we would have never understood if we didn’t take ourselves out of the situation and get him help.  God had granted me mounds of mercy for my son that night.  I don’t have any other explanation.  I was concerned about his well being.  I stayed calm, didn’t fight or argue back and did the best thing I could for him at the time even though it was extremely difficult.  Two years later, he is a different young man and has made tremendous strides.  He is enrolling in college classes for a culinary degree, is an assistant manager at a restaurant and hasn’t had a “manic” episode since.  I was worried that my relationship with him would be strained, but it has only grown stronger.  He calls that night the biggest turning point in his life.  Show mercy and grace to others.  Even when it’s hard.  God’s mercy was all over that situation that night and now it is part of our family's testimony.  Thank God for his mercy and grace. ~ Amen