Merciful!

Merciful!

Be merciful (responsive, compassionate, tender) just as your [heavenly] Father is merciful. Luke 6:36 AMP

The chapter from where the verse above is taken starts with different accounts of healing that were performed by Jesus on the Sabbath day. As we know, the Jews were very religious with their feasts and holy days, and would not allow any work to be done, even if it was to change the story of someone whose hand was withered, or so many other people who sought to be healed of their diseases or were vexed with unclean spirits, and they were all healed. Jesus at this time was more interested in the eternal redemption of people, and not what the Jewish authorities of His day were interested in. He wanted to touch lives and make them better, not just fill their bellies with food, drink and other earthly benefits, with nothing of eternal value added. Like all who claim to follow this same Jesus, can I say I have the same heart? Am I focused on the lost, or just caught up in my selfish interests?

It must be pointed out here that Jesus spoke  and ministered to the crowd, but then He took the disciples aside and then spoke to them in private. There is indeed a message for the crowd, and a message for disciples. The expectations from the crowd will always be different from those of disciples. The inner conviction for disciples is not the same for the crowd. There are things the crowd will do and may seemingly get away with because it does not know any better, but the disciple is not permitted to do the same. When you hear comments like: "And you call yourself a Christian' , this shows the depth and scope of expectations for those who claim to be disciples of Jesus. The reason why the message of mercy in the verse above is quite instructive and relevant to our present times is the nature of its online definition, which says: 'compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm'. 

Think of this: there would have been offence, and the right response would have been harm or punishment, but the one who is offended is the one who chooses to forgive or show compassion. I relate this to myself, and I know that I am a product of mercy. Due to sin, the right response by God should be punishment in line with His Word, but He chose to show me mercy. He did not even wait for me to ask for it; I may not even have known at a time that I needed it, but when the time was right, He brought me into His fold and I can say that His mercy has saved me. The one reaction that is non-negotiable is that I must also extend the same mercy I have received to other people. You cannot give what you do not have, but be sure that God will demand an account of that which He has supplied in abundant measure to you. If God is my Father, my sonship show off His nature. Do my current pursuits and priorities show that God is my Father? God's time of favour is here.