GET TOGETHER- Are You As Merciful As God?
Mt 5:7 Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.
(NKJV)
Sometimes when we are real quiet we can hear the Holy Spirit speak plainly to us. Today I was in the lobby of the church and I heard the Holy Spirit ask me two questions. The first one that He asked was this “was I as merciful as God”. The second one was “what if God was as merciful as I am . Wow! That was a challenging one. It leads me to first really appreciate the mercy that God has shown me in a greater way. Then it also brought about an examination of my heart concerning how merciful I am to others.
The Greek term here for mercy is eleemon, el-eh-ay’-mone. That term means to show mercy. There is a good promise for those of us that do that. We will receive mercy. Today I was reading a devotional by John Maxwell. He talked about being a good leader. He said that good leaders take the high road and not the low road. I think that this really applies to all of us as Christians. Maxwell said that those who take the low road go for revenge and retaliation when wronged. He said that those that take the high road choose unconditional love and forgiveness.
He used the example of Job. Job endured long hard criticism by his friends who thought that they knew how to fix him and his dire situation. Rather than retaliate. Job chose mercy and prayed for his friends. Look what happened when Job took the high road: Job 42:10 ¶ And the LORD restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. (NKJV)
Think about it Job could have taken the low road and drank the poison of bitterness for the rest of his life. But he chose mercy. I love the following passage from the Book of James: Jas 2:13 “For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. “(NKJV) That is right in line with what Jesus was saying at the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew Chapter 5.
If we have lived life all of us have most likely suffered some hurt by another individual. And most of us have either intentionally or unintentionally hurt someone else. For those who have been hurt forgiving someone isn’t saying that what they did was right. But it is choosing to not drink the bitter cup of poisonous judgment. No matter how much we have been hurt none of us have felt the pain that God felt when we lived lives rejecting Him and refusing to come to the cross and accept the mercy that Jesus Christ was offering to us.
So today my friends on this Valentine’s Day first of all know that Jesus Christ loves you! Next thank Him for the mercy that you have received from Him. Then ask the Holy Spirit to help you to be the merciful follower of Christ that we are called to be. When we do I believe that just like Job’s losses were restored ours will be also.
Let Us Pray
Lord Jesus we thank you for the mercy that you have demonstrated to us in sparing us from Hell. We thank You for the mercy that allows us to fellowship with you now and forever. Today help us to be a merciful people.
In Jesus Name
Amen
Your Friend/Kinfolk
Preston
