New Morning Mercies #220

Mercy is what we have been given and what we are called to give. It is my commitment to suffer with you, just as Christ suffered for me.

Perhaps it is the most normal, most frequent moral contradiction in our lives. Perhaps it is the place where we all stumble the most. Perhaps our failure here demonstrates how much we still need what we so often fail to give to others. How is it possible that we who have been blessed with eternal love far beyond anything that we ever could have hoped to earn could be so regularly unloving to those around us? How could we ever fail to respond in mercy to others when we have been given mercy that is renewed with each new morning? Why are judgment and condemnation often our more natural responses to the sin, weakness, and failure of others than offering them the same grace that we have been given? Why are we so impatient when the extent of God’s patience with us stands as one of the redemptive miracles of our lives? Why do we find it so hard to forgive when we have been forgiven at the price of the suffering and death of Jesus? Why can we walk past suffering with little compassion when our lives have been rescued by the tender compassion of the Savior? Why do we resist serving one another when the Lord of all things willingly came and served us even to the point of his death? How is it that we can be so unfaithful and disloyal in the face of the unaltered faithfulness of our heavenly Father? How could we ever lie to our neighbor’s harm when we have been blessed with truth that has set us free?

The answer to each of these questions is humbling. We don’t always respond to others as the Savior has responded to us because we don’t share his heart. Our hearts are not always ruled by what ruled his heart. Our lives are not always motivated by what motivated his. We don’t always find joy in what brought him joy. So we lack the mercy that drove and shaped his life.

Our selfish hearts, often more committed to our kingdom purposes than his, want the lavish riches of grace for ourselves, but do not want to have to make sacrifices of grace for others. We see this in the self-righteous anger of a parent, in the bitter unforgiveness of a spouse, in the dysfunctional bickering between neighbors, in divisions in the body of Christ, or in our unfaithfulness in our relationships. The war of kingdoms rages in our hearts, and one of the first casualties is mercy. It is sad but true—our refusal to give grace to others reveals how much we still need grace ourselves. Our failure to forgive shows how much we still need God’s moment-by-moment forgiveness. The weakness in our love demonstrates how much our hope still rests on a God who will love us even on our very worst day. Struggles to live the gospel in our relationships with others picture how much we need the rich gospel ourselves. And it all argues that we still don’t deserve the favor that we are given daily and are called to give to others who are as undeserving as we are.

For further study and encouragement: James 2:1–13