“Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” – Luke 6:36
If you’ve experienced God’s mercy through faith in Jesus Christ, then you MUST be merciful. It isn’t an option. It isn’t a nice-to-have feature in your future character development. It isn’t something to get around to when it’s convenient. And it certainly isn’t something to only practice when it’s easy. True followers of Jesus are merciful toward enemies. Toward those who curse them, mock them, and hurt them. Toward those who slap them, extort them, and seek to take advantage of them. Toward those who are different, scary, and shouldn’t even be near them.
Jesus was very, very clear. Sinners know how to love their friends. Sinners know how to help people who will help them in return. Sinners know how to lend money to people who are a good credit risk. Those who’ve been touched by God’s grace and mercy must demonstrate it by living lives filled with grace and mercy toward people they otherwise wouldn’t care about. And Jesus is very, very clear about what the standard is – your mercy is to be like God’s!
Does your mercy toward others match up to God’s? Does your mercy toward those you dislike match up to God’s? Does your mercy toward those who disagree and oppose you and hate you match up to God’s? Be honest and don’t make excuses about this! If you call yourself a Christian but don’t have a heart of mercy toward those you’re inclined to dislike, you probably don’t know Jesus. Beg God for mercy and then be merciful as He is merciful. #FollowJesus