Mercy

Mercy

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

WHEN A RELATIVE OF OURS needed a car, a dear friend heard about the need and insisted on giving us a car that he was no longer using. It was an older car with a lot of miles, but it still ran well. At first, Kyle and I resisted. How could we take a car without giving our friend anything in return?

We offered to pay him something for it, but he refused, telling us he just wanted to bless our family. After a while, my husband and I humbly and gratefully accepted his gift.

But even as I was so thankful for my friend, I struggled to pass the car on to our relative. This person has prejudice against the race of our friend who gave us the car, and I know that if the tables were turned, our relative would not return the favor.

I sat in angry indignation toward this family member, begrudging them the car. It’s not that I didn’t think they deserved a vehicle; I just didn’t think they deserved one from our friend.

As I struggled to know what to do, I listened to a message about the Good Samaritan. Although I’ve read the story many times, one comment the speaker made struck me. She said, “The Good Samaritan helped the man who’d been beaten on the side of the road, knowing full well, if the roles were reversed, the beaten man most likely would not have stopped to help him.” I sat stunned. I knew these words were for me. I asked for God’s forgiveness and for a heart to love my relative the way the Samaritan showed love to the beaten man.

Mercy is often defined as compassion or unmerited grace toward another person. Mercy sounds wonderful, until you are in a situation where someone needs mercy who doesn’t seem to deserve it. As Christians, we have to remember that this is also us. I didn’t deserve God’s mercy, and yet he offered it to me, freely. In turn, we are to be merciful to others, just as God is to us.

Lord, showing mercy to others is not always easy. Help us to see the mercy you’ve given to us first and then change our hearts so that we can show mercy to others. Amen.

-Kendra

One Good Step: Show mercy to someone who doesn’t seem to deserve it.