Hello everyone,
Are there people in your life who you hold a grudge on, maybe because of what they did, and you feel you can never forgive that person ever? Well, true, there are people who really don’t deserve forgiveness, some could be because after all you did for them, spending your hard earned money on them, they later made it in life and now they spite you as though you never did anything for them, all these are the challenges even after becoming a Son of God, you still face. Today’s write-up is about mercy and how it can be fused into our daily lives and how important it is.
In Matthew 5:7, Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” The Amplified Bible puts it thus: “Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous-with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favour and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy!” Just take a look at the synonyms used in classifying the word “blessed” expressed by the Amplified Bible, it shows the great level of importance of mercy. To be merciful is to express compassion, care, forgiveness, love not just to your friends and family, but also to those you don’t like and don’t know [strangers], as the expression of mercy must be sincere, well only God knows those who are truly sincere, and it is the sincere ones that Jesus was talking about in Matthew 5:7.
The Samaritans in the time of Jesus were those who were spited by the Jews. The Jews spited them so much that they didn’t want to have any dealings with them to the point where the Jews washed their hands if they had any contact with the Samaritans. But Jesus (after being asked by someone who wanted to know who his neighbour was), gave a parable of a man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, beat him up to the point where he was left half dead. The so called “men of God” saw him and passed by, paying more attention to where they were going. It was then a Samaritan who saw him then had compassion, in other words, he had mercy on him. The man who was half dead was most likely a Jew, but the Samaritan didn’t put that in mind, as some at that point would have said, “Yes! This is good for him, the Lord has started avenging my enemies”, but the Samaritan on the contrary, cared for him, cleaned his wounds, and took him to an inn where he was looked after. Not only that, he paid the innkeeper, wow! He showed mercy to his “enemy”. What we fail to understand is that our religious worship isn’t what God looks at, but our attitude to people and way of life, not by being religious, but by expressing love and mercy. Sincere mercy and love can never come from the devil, especially when it is your enemy involved, this is why God cherish those who show mercy.
Psalms 41:1 says, “Blessed is he who considers the poor; the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.” There are those who are in need around us, we are to help them, we are to show sincere mercy and compassion to them, God sees all these things, which is why Jesus said those who are merciful will obtain mercy. The Message puts Matthew 5:7 thus, “You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.” This is true as God will send care to you just because you cared for others, this is the true religion Apostle James was talking about, not the one the priest and the Levite displayed in the parable of the Good Samaritan. And all these starts from opening up your heart to forgive those who have offended you, yes, you were hurt, but of what good is it to you? It is even bad for your health to hold unto grudges. Jesus said in Mark 11:25, “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.” Now, it is not that Jesus won’t forgive us, of which He did so on the cross, but, you are preventing His grace to flow through you as you are holding back by not forgiving those who have wronged you. Remember, you are not just to study the word, but you are to express it in everything in your daily lives, because it should be your life itself. Christ showed us mercy that while we were yet sinners He died for us (ref.: Romans 5:8), we are now to receive His Spirit as our new nature in order to express the true and sincere love, mercy, compassion to those around us. Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.
May the LORD bless you and keep you, make His face shine upon you. May the LORD be gracious to you and lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace. AMEN.
Why not accept Jesus today if you haven’t. Pray out loud, “Jesus, I confess that You are my Lord and Saviour. I believe in my heart that God raised You from the dead. By faith in Your Word, I receive salvation now. Thank You for saving me!” Congratulations, you’re born again, you are now brand new!
Log on next time.
For prayers and comments, send them to the comment section below.
GOD BLESS YOU.
PLEASE LIKE AND FOLLOW MY BLOG
Unless otherwise stated, the following scriptures are gotten from New King James Version (NKJV)
No comments:
Post a Comment