Mercy!

Mercy!

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Matthew 5:7 NIV

What is mercy: Google defines it this way: "compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm." On first reading, it is clear that there must have been a contravention of the instructions of One who is superior to the one being shown mercy. The breach of instruction also would carry the penalty, made clear from the very start, otherwise, what is shown will not be called mercy. And it will be within the power of the superior to apply the due punishment for the breach of instruction. This is what is called justice and fairness: do the crime; pay the price. It is the total and complete break with the norm that makes what Jesus did for us so unique and special. We were the ones who received his instructions, yet we broke them over and over again. 

God had made very clear what the penalty for sin is: death, but we just couldn't help ourselves. In stepped the same Jesus, whose instructions we had ignored or disobeyed, and knowing we couldn't save ourselves, came in mercy, showed us compassion and forgiveness, paying the legal price for the sin that we committed but couldn't settle. It is that mercy that gives us legal ground on which to stand and approach God's throne of grace, where we can ask for anything we need. If the God who sits on that throne could give up His One and Only Son for us, we have received the greatest gift ever; every other thing we ask for is additional blessing on top of the greatest one we have received. 

How do you get it: This is where it gets quite interesting. There is nothing a man could do to deserve the mercy of God, except to just bd born. All men, born of women, are born into sin, and as long as you can trace your origin to Adam, you are also eligible for the grace that was pronounced by God in the garden of Eden, but made alive when Jesus died. It does not matter what the past looks like, what the challenges of the present are, or how bleak the future looks; as long as I am still breathing God's air, I am a recipient of the mercy of God. 

What it is not: I must note that this grace is not my exclusive preserve, or something I have been mandated to dispense as I see fit. It was not mine to dispense in the first place; I am only a recipient of the mercy. If I am therefore a recipient, I cannot become proud about something I did not create and cannot sustain or limit. Just as I have received it, I must be quick to show it to other people. If I know the value of what I have received, I will not have to be compelled to show it to other people. A heart of gratitude knows what it has received, and is quick to invite others to enjoy the same thing. It is what I show out to others that I will receive in return. 

In light of eternity: and in light of who and what is coming, I must make haste to show this mercy to all who are yet to know this God of mercy. This God shows mercy, but I must never forget the reason why His mercy was required in the first place. It was sin that caused the first separation between man and God and it is also sin that will cause the final separation between man and God. Just as mercy intervened to reconcile man to God, that mercy is still quite active today, still seeking men to return to God. However, please note that mercy has an expiry date: when physical death or the final judgment happens, mercy expires. All that is left is the full expression of the wrath of God. You do not want to know what that looks like. While there is life, seek and obtain Life. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. His mercy is free, available and open to all. Accept Him today, receive mercy and show it to others too. His time of favour is here.