Having Mercy On Others

Jesus, Himself, commands us to be merciful just like our Father in Heaven is merciful. I never had a full view of what mercy was and how to implement it into my life. Sometimes, I heard the words grace and mercy so much that they just became apart of my vocabulary and not apart of my life. I understood that God was graceful and merciful towards us, but I don’t believe it went any deeper than head knowledge for me. So as I have grown to understand what mercy is and how to be merciful to others, I would like to share it with you. 

The definition of mercy is to be kind, gentle, or compassionate treatment especially towards someone who is undeserving of it or the capacity for feeling for another’s unhappiness or misfortune. 

As the Lord has brought me to understand mercy more, it is essentially forgiveness. It is not holding something against someone and in your heart deciding to free (forgive) them that they can be free. The Lord’s mercy towards us is Him not holding us accountable for the wrongdoing that we have done. 

Scripture, [Hebrews 4:16], tells us to come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may receive mercy. The Lord told me awhile ago that His grace is a covering of His love. It is like a river that we can drink from everyday knowing that we are covered and protected. So as in Hebrews 4:16, if we come to the throne of His love (covering) then we will receive mercy (forgiveness) in the time that we need it. 

Now how does this apply to others in our daily lives? 

If our Father in Heaven is merciful and forgives us of our wrongdoings, then we too are to forgive others of their wrongdoings as well. I know it may be unbelievable to hear, but your sins are no smaller than the next person’s sins. Ofcourse we do not all commit the same type of sins, however we are all sinners still in need of mercy and forgiveness from the Lord. If you feel as if you are not sinful, you may have pride/arrogance blocking your viewpoint of yourself because we all sin in different ways.

Jesus put it this way in the Lord’s prayer- “forgive us of our sins, AS we forgive others of their sins against us”. This leads us to know that if we would like the Lord to forgive us then we must also recognize our sins and forgive others of their sinning against us. If there is one strong thing that I have learned, is to have a deep understanding of how sinful I am and how much I need God's mercy and grace. Understanding my sin and the mercy that God has shown me, helps me to remember to be more merciful to others. If you want mercy yourself, freely give it others too!

And you know what it takes to also have mercy on others? Humility.

If you are not humble, it will be very hard to be merciful to other people.

So take a moment and remember what is pleasing to God. If you truly want to draw closer to Him and finish your race well as a Christian, then you must have mercy on others.

“No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what He requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” -Micah 6:8