“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” (Matt 5:7 NIV)
When you consider forgiving the people who have hurt you, you must always consider how much Jesus has forgiven you! You don’t deserve His love and can never earn it. He forgave you because He is a merciful, gracious God. Because you have already been forgiven of ALL your sins and set free, you must forgive others by becoming so transparent that His mercy and grace will radiate through every aspect of your life. You are never to be a giver of condemnation but always a giver of mercy.
Mercy is distinctly different from forgiveness because God is merciful to us even when you don’t sin, just as you can be merciful to those who have never done anything against you. God’s mercy doesn’t just forgive your failures and faults, but reaches deep into all your weakness and need. His attitude toward you is merciful.
“But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so very much, that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s special favor that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms--all because we are one with Christ Jesus. And so God can always point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of his favor and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us through Christ Jesus.” (Eph 2:4 NIV)
Mercy is also related to grace. Grace is what saves you - mercy is what sustains you. Mercy eliminates the pain, grace cures the disease. Mercy offers relief from punishment; grace offers pardon from the crime. Mercy is a word you will hear used in the legal system. After the conviction has been made, the jury has unanimously declared the persons guilt, and the sentence is about to be handed down, MERCY is begged for.
The Hebrew word for mercy is “checed” which means to get inside someone’s skin, to look at where they view life and feel what they are experiencing; to move in and act on behalf of the one whose hurting. That is exactly what Jesus did when He chose to leave the comfort and glory of Heaven to become one of us. Mercy has also been defined as compassionate treatment, having the disposition to be kind and forgiving.
One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking Him this question: "Teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life?" Jesus replied with a question, "What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?"
The religious man replied with the correct answer "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, `Love your neighbor as yourself.’ " He then asked Jesus another question to justify his behavior; “And who is my neighbor”
Jesus answered him by telling the familiar story of the Good Samaritan (See Luke 10:25-37). The Samaritan handed out mercy by taking notice of the bruised and beaten man laying beside the road, relating to his need AND doing something to help him.
After telling the story Jesus asked, “which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?" The man replied, "The one who showed him mercy." Then, Jesus said, "Yes, now go and do the same."
The dispensing of mercy on your part identifies you not only with the hurting but with God the Father. You are never more like your Heavenly Father than when you are giving out mercy. Jesus desires acts of “mercy and not sacrifice.’ (Matthew 9:13 NIV) If you truly love God you prove it through the mercy you give.
New Every Morning
The mercy and “unfailing love of the LORD never ends! His “mercies begin afresh each day" (Lam 3:19-24 NLT) His mercy is brand spanking new every morning! Everyday you are given a second chance and a fresh start at life! “Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven! For His mercy endures forever. (Ps 136:26 NKJV)
As God gives you a fresh start each new day, so should you reach beyond the pain and give to those who have hurt you a fresh start through your forgiveness. Mercy is forgiveness soaked in the love of God. Everyday, when you forgive, the anger, bitterness, resentment and pain that you feel from the wrong suffered at the hands of another is weakened. It’s only through the giving of mercy that your emotional wounds will be healed. If you do not show mercy and forgive the unforgivable you may never find total healing for your spirit, mind and body.
Thirteen Attributes of Mercy
“Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation." (Ex 34:5-7 NIV)
“Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. You will be true to Jacob, and show mercy to Abraham, as you pledged on oath to our fathers in days long ago.” (Mic 7:18-20 NIV)
God has given us thirteen attributes of Himself to be emulated.*
1. "Who is a God like You" - this phrase describes the tremendous ability of the Creator God to withstand humiliation. We should show patience even when humiliated by someone else and to demonstrate composure even when the people we have been kind to turn their back on us. Even then, we should remain patient and not withhold our kindness.
2. "Who bears transgression" - God practices tolerance and gives all humanity a chance to turn to Him in repentance. So too, we should be tolerant, even when a wrong has been done to us, and wait until those who have hurt us have a chance to rectify their transgression.
3. "And pardons the wrongdoing" – Because God is love, He forgives and cleanses those who repent. We, too, should aspire to help those in need of repentance and seek to assist them no matter what it takes.
4. "Of the remnant of His heritage" - our personal pain is God's pain because we are His heritage. We should strive for such intense sympathy to feel others' pain as our own and love them as ourselves.
5. "[He] does not sustain His anger forever" - We should not hold onto our anger even when there is good reason to be upset with another.
6. "For He desires loving kindness" - God desires to see goodness within all people and to overlook their negative behavior, and instead, remembering their good deeds. When we feel upset because someone has wronged us, we need to look deeper and find something positive and good within that person.
7. "He will once more have compassion on us" – The prodigal person who was distant from God but has returned has a special place in His eyes. We should aspire not to nurture anger towards a person who has previously upset us, showing more love and compassion instead.
8. "[And] forget our transgressions" - In God's eyes, a negative action does not negate a positive one, and each person is accorded a reward for the good done by receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We should not allow the negative of any person to overwhelm the positive, seeing only the bad. Instead, we should suppress the bad, leave it behind, and place the good of that person in front of us.
9. "And [He] will hurl all our sins into the depths of the ocean" - In God's eyes, the negative is external so that when the cover is thrown away, the good is revealed. We should remember that human beings were created good at the core, and when we see even bad people suffering, we should show them pity.
10. "[O God] grant truth to Jacob" - God shows compassion even to those who do not know how to conduct themselves beyond the letter of His Law. We should train ourselves to always treat others with integrity and truth.
11. "[And] loving-kindness to Abraham" - God walks with those who conduct themselves as Abraham, who showed those who transgressed the law extreme kindness beyond measure. We should show extreme kindness and patience to others.
12. "As You vowed to our forefathers" - Even those who do not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior receive from God's boundless abundance. When we encounter negative people, we should not show anger, only mercy. We should remind ourselves that they too are the children of God.
13. "Long ago" - God remembers how much He loved the people of Israel long ago, recalling all our good deeds from the day of our birth. If we see a person who appears empty of anything positive, we should remind ourselves that there must have been a time when this person was young and innocent and did good things.
BECOMING A CONDUIT OF GOD’S MERCY
When Jesus was ready to release the disciples into ministry He gave them very specific instructions. In those commands we find a four-step plan for effectively fulfilling the Great Commission.
1. Speak peace to them. "When you enter a house, first say, ’Peace to this house.’ If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you” (Luke 10:5-6 NIV).
2. Fellowship with them; “Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you" (Luke 10:7 NIV).
3. Take care of their needs; “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons" (Matt 10:8 ESV)
4. Share the Great News! - “The kingdom of God is near you” (Luke 10:5,8-9 NIV). Become a conduit of mercy and share God’s forgiving love and mercy with the guilty, convicted, and the desperate who have only known judgment, wrath, and condemnation.
Just as Jesus was love incarnate, He was mercy incarnate. He wept with the sorrowing and gave companionship to the lonely. He took little children into His arms and blessed them. He forgave those who beat Him and rallied against Him. The ultimate outcome of His mercy was the cross.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matt 5:7 NIV). He was teaching that mercy to men brings mercy from God - not mercy from men. Our corrupt, ego-centered, and selfish society often asks only one question; “What’s in it for me?” Jesus wants us to ask “Lord, what is in it for you? How can I meet their needs right where they are? What acts of compassion can I do?”
Mercy is meeting people’s needs wherever their needs are - in whatever situation they find themselves. It’s not simply feeling compassion but showing compassion, not only sympathizing but offering a helping hand as well. The true character of mercy is in giving – giving compassion, giving help, giving time, giving money, giving of yourself and giving forgiveness. If you desire to “brightly reflect the glory of the Lord” and become “more and more like him and reflect his glory even more” you must “never give up” in showing His mercy (2 Cor 3:17-4:2 NLT).
*Adapted from the Book, “Tomer Devorah” by Rabbi Moshe Cordovero.
