For Mercy's Sake

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” (Matthew 5: 7)

A young boy was sent to the corner store by his mother to buy a loaf of bread. He was gone much longer than it should have taken him. When he finally returned his mother asked, “Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick about you.” “Well,” he answered, “There was a little boy with a broken bike who was crying. So I stopped to help him.” “I didn’t know you knew anything about fixing bikes,” his mother said. “I don’t,” he replied. “I just stayed there and cried with him.”

This fifth beatitude forces us to ask a very difficult question. The pressing question of the hour and of this beatitude is "Are we merciful?" Perhaps there's no greater virtue that provides genuine salvation and conversion other than mercy.

It is one thing to quote this verse; it is another thing to practice what it says. It is one thing to preach about mercy; it is another thing to practice it. How does the subject of mercy apply to your life? How do you treat your wife, family, waitress, boss, co-workers, etc? The world will tell us to look out for number 1: Self, but the Lord tells us to look out for number 2: Others.

The Greek word Jesus employs comes from a Hebrew word meaning "the ability to get right inside another person's skin so as to feel with his feelings." Mercy identifies with the miserable in their misery. Mercy is the spirit of kindness. It is a propensity to pity.

Mercy is sometimes defined as sympathy. Sympathy means experiencing things together with other people; to suffer with them, literally going through what they're going through. This type of virtue Jesus is talking about here is that it looks for the opportunity to suffer and to hurt with others.

You may ask “Why is it so important that I extend mercy to others?” Jesus said, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). God is the author of mercy and because I have received his grace, it makes me merciful as well. If I am not merciful, there is only one explanation. I've never understood the mercy and grace of God.

Let me give a practical suggestion as to how you can show mercy today.

Walk out of your house, open your eyes, and look! Just through the normal pattern of your life keep your eyes open. Be sensitive to the needs of others as you look out for #2 instead of #1. This beatitude forces us to look inside ourselves. It forces us to ask some hard questions.

· Am I gentle and compassionate, or hard-nosed toward the hurting, or those who have hurt me?

· Am I sensitive to the needs of those around me?

· Am I oblivious and preoccupied with my own little world?

· Do I care about the lost?

· Who am I sitting down and crying with today?

Derek