Being merciful

 

One good thing about aging is realizing that I cannot do many things that once were easy for me. Why is this good? I causes me to depend more and more on God’s help. Last week, a friend complained about age-related weakness and I said, “Think of it this way. Instead of being a weakness, you are becoming more mature in faith. It is the weak and helpless that God blesses the most.”

This popped out without forethought and came to mind this morning when I read this verse and the note I’d written under it: “Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful.” (Psalm 116:5) The note said, ‘Mercy is doing for others what they cannot do for themselves.’

Today’s devotional says showing mercy is a sign of being a Christian. This verse tells me that I’m to be like God in that I do for others what they cannot do for themselves:

So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. (James 2:12–13)

These ideas are all connected. Aging gives me a sense of what others experience. I’m far more aware of the trials of life and the pitfalls, the sad times and the struggles. Age gives understanding into the human dilemma and into the battles we fight against sin. I’ve been through times of winning and times of losing. I know what it is like to be unable, to have much that I cannot do for myself. Showing mercy is more meaningful because I’ve needed it myself and God has shown it to me.

God’s “law of liberty” is the Gospel. It has set me free from the law of sin and death, something I could never do for myself either.

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:2–4)

God’s mercy to me is the reason and the foundation for me showing mercy to others. Even if other people do not realize that they cannot save themselves, I know the power and deceitfulness of sin. I didn’t understand it for many years, but now that I am older and God has shown me how helpless I am to fight sin, I have a greater distaste for it. I know what sin can do to a life and I don’t want others to remain it its clutches. Because of that knowledge and experience, showing mercy is an imperative. Sometimes it is the key to unlocking the door to release others from the prison of sin.

PRAY: Lord Jesus, there are people all around me in need of mercy. I realize that some of them are unaware of their need. Sin blinds the mind to the reality of it and to our helplessness to fight it. I also now see my own helplessness with greater appreciation for it. Without Your Spirit and Your wisdom, I’ve no idea what needs to be done to set people free from that law of sin and death. I just know that mercy is part of it, a large part. Otherwise, sinners face judgment without mercy. Today, grant me grace to be merciful. I’ve no idea what the day may bring, but without Your mercy and grace, I will be helpless to deal with any of it. Bless me so I can bless others.

PONDER: Read Luke 10:25-37. What does it tell me about mercy? What can interfere with being merciful?