Luke 6:36 AMP
[36] Be merciful (responsive, compassionate, tender) just as your [heavenly] Father is merciful.
One of the best places to start is to define the key theme of the verse above, which is mercy. This is defined as 'compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm'. You find someone who has done something wrong, and the right thing to do is punish. There must have been a breach of clear rules by the overall authority, and the rules also lay out the clear consequences for not adhering to the rules. God does not punish because it gives Him pleasure to be a terror, but it is His nature to apply the rules He has set by Himself. Would God be God if He were fickle, timid and inconsistent in the application of His Word?
Thank God for His faithfulness and truth; I know where I stand because I know who God is. It is His Word that says clearly that the soul that sins shall die. It is also His Word that lays out the way of salvation from the consequences of sin, which is death. God's Word does not limit the opportunity to those who are rich, connected or influential, but to all who will come, as they are, to the source of this mercy. I come, as I am, to the source of mercy. God does not lie, and if He says I am forgiven, indeed I am. When I have received this mercy, and I come into a new standing in Christ, it is expected that I extend the same grace to other people.
This is where the practical meets the expected. Just as I have obtained mercy, I have to be quick to share it. God will not demand from me that which He has not given me grace for, but you can be sure that an account will be demanded of the resources He has made available to me. A heart that God has touched will produce that which looks like God. The perfect example is our heavenly Father, and those who He births look, speak, relate and love like He does. If I am struggling to show compassion or tenderness, I just might need to go back and check my connection. Mercy has been given in abundance; how do you respond? God's time of favour is here.
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