Extending mercy is one of the most powerful ways we demonstrate the character of Christ in this world. It is in God’s nature is to extend mercy, not just one time but ceaselessly –the good book says “His mercies are new each day”
Are you willing to love your enemies, to show mercy without expecting reciprocity, to leave justice in God’s hands?
Matthew 5:7
[7]God blesses those who are merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
The word mercy or extending mercy to some brings to mind the less privilege, the unfortunate, the down trodden, people that are victims etc
But mercy is for everyone not only to the downtrodden, but also to our enemies. Extending the same mercy you desire from God in your life and over the mistakes and mess we’ve made of our life to others, especially those that might have inflicted much pain on you, those that criticize you, those who wrongly and unfairly attack you, persecute you, bother you.
I know what it looks like to show mercy to those who gossiped about you at work, the extended family member who tries at any chance to criticize your decisions, and people who hate you for no reason.
The funny thing is we are villains in people’s story to, we’ve probably done worse to people and most times without even knowing. If I’m to be rewarded for the mistakes I personally made which affected people and the hurts/pains I’ve inflicted on people directly/indirectly, I would be crushed but Mercy speaks, so, why can’t we show mercy to others like Christ?
The major reason people find it difficult to show mercy is the pain, we want them to feel what we felt and even more, same reason we horde forgiveness, but still un-forgiveness defiles us (personally, I see it as hording someone’s sin). The capacity to endure pain and not afflict it to the same person that caused the pain is a sign of mercy and Christ like behavior.
We can easily cancel, withdraw and blacklist people for things/hurts we at one time have inflicted on people too, even strategize how to revenge. Joseph should be our example when we struggle extending mercy, we know his brothers sold him away which led him through the pains and hardship he went through, but what did he do at the end?
Genesis 50:19-21
[19]But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you?
[20]You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.
[21]No, don’t be afraid. I will continue to take care of you and your children.” So he reassured them by speaking kindly to them.
Extending mercy goes with forgiveness and letting go, stop replaying every past hurtful thing/pain that happened to you. It’s you consistently living in the past and expects to be successfully moving forward. My dad will always say “you can’t be going forward and going backward at the same time”
If God highlight the motive behind some of the prayers we make, you will be more grateful not to receive a quick answer, many pray for success just to oppress those that ignored or hurt them.
A man in total submission to God knows Mercy, submit your heart and motive to God to receive healing and realignment of the heart.
Extending mercy, especially to those who don’t deserve it, is something we cannot do on our own. We need Jesus to help us. His help makes the hardest circumstance easy to achieve.
You are unstoppable!
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