Love Mercy

We all love justice. Justice is our friend. Well ... except when we are standing before a judge and we have done something wrong. All of a sudden, justice is no longer our ally. Justice is the last thing we want when we are guilty.

What we want when we are guilty is mercy. Mercy is when we don’t get the justice we deserve because the judge gives us a break.

No one understands mercy better than the Christian. A Christian is a person who has learned that they are guilty and sees the depth of their guilt, but got mercy instead.

Our Judge has let us off the hook! Praise God for His mercy! Now, with that in mind, read this verse and pay attention to what it says about mercy:

Micah 6:8

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”

What Does God Want from us? He wants us to love mercy.

Love it.

One more time ... LOVE.

That’s a big word. It doesn’t say to like mercy. The word love means we should make mercy a part of our life, to desire it above all else, to embrace it and to live a life of mercy.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? So ... how is that working for you! Are you applying mercy to others as freely as God has to given it to you? I’ll give you a minute to think about that.

I didn’t think so. Loving mercy means that we actually have to do it. We have to show mercy to other people. How are you doing that? In what ways are you living like that in your daily life? It has been my experience that most Christians are a lot more focused on meting out giving justice than they are in showing mercy. Is that how it is with you?

That’s a tough question, isn’t it? If it makes you feel any better, I didn’t like my answer to it either. Maybe we should make that our prayer today. Let’s ask God to show us how we can be merciful to those around us today.