#4 – Is Your Mercy Showing?
In continuing along with our 31 Days of Having a Heart Like His, we will now talk about Mercy!
What do you think of when you hear the word, mercy?
I think of the old western movies where someone is about to be shot point blank and the person on the ground is yelling, “please, have mercy on me!” In the old westerns the end result could go either way, depending if it were the good guy with the gun or the bad guy. My eyes were usually closed at this point waiting to see if the gun went off or not.
I hope you have followed along this journey with me of making over our hearts to be more like our Savior’s heart! In case you are new to this series, here is a list of what we have talked about so far: (click on each one to go to that post)
“Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” I Chronicles 16:34
When you read God’s Word, you will find many scriptures to show God’s amazing Mercy! Have you seen how many references there are to God’s mercy? I hope you will take the time to check it out. You can go to www.BibleGateway.com and type in the word, mercy and all the scriptures will pop up for you to read and then you can mark your Bible of those that speak to you in a special way!
“Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled.” Psalm 6:2
Here is the dictionary definition of the word, mercy:
Mercy: Kind or forgiving treatment of someone who would be treated harshly.
Kindness or help given to people who are in a very bad or desperate situation.
If you have come to the point in your life, where you realized that you needed a Savior and you asked Him to forgive you of your sin; He then, in all of His mercy forgave you regardless of where you’ve been, what you’ve done, the things you’ve said or thought. He had mercy on you and me and saved us for a literal hell. We will live eternally with Him when we close our eyes for the final time. Not only that, as we go through this sometimes crazy and scary life, He is with us every step of the way. How thankful I am that He had mercy on me and has walked through some very troubling times with me. He has given me the strength to hold my head up and continue on to live a changed life! I know you feel the same way in your life, too!
“not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us….” Titus 3:5
So, how are we doing in having a heart of mercy, such as His?
Do you look on other’s and think:
They don’t deserve for me to even speak to them!
That person deserves to be homeless, look how lazy they are!
They hurt me for the last time! I will never give them the time of day!
I’ll teach you a lesson, never will I forgive you!
That’s it! I’m writing down everything you’ve done to me and then I will use it against you the first chance I get!
Even if you ask for forgiveness, you won’t get it from me. You don’t deserve forgiveness!
They made their choice, they deserve to live like that!
*can you add some things to the list?
Wow! Those are harsh, aren’t they? Truth is, we may actually think those things. We may not say them, but we think it! Ouch!
“For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon you.” Psalm 86:5
Who is it today, that you may need to have mercy on? You may need to speak their name out loud or write it down in your prayer journal.
Ask God to give you a heart of mercy!
There may be another action you need to take in order to prepare your heart for this assignment of having a heart like His!
For me, I will be deleting a file folder of some emails that I received from someone that was wanting to hurt me with their words. They did hurt. They broke my heart. They made me mad at first and then I was hurt. So their job was successful! I have saved those emails thinking I would use them against them someday if needed. I also thought I may want to read them again to remind myself of who they are! I never received an apology for those words. But, today, they will be deleted and forgotten. I’m thankful for a delete button!
I want a heart of mercy! Do you?
“Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.” Matthew 5:7
