Be Merciful

   “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” (Matt 5: 7)

   The beatitudes reflect the life of Jesus and how He lived.  They are guidelines for us to follow in our effort to model our life after His in as many ways as possible.

   Mercy is something that we all need.  Without mercy Jesus would have never become man to save us from eternal damnation; we would have remained lost in sin.  Because of God’s great love Jesus was born, lived, and died to pay the price for our sins, opening the doors to heaven.

   As He had mercy for us we are to show mercy to others.  Not only those we love but those we would rather not love.  Even those who do evil to us.  Christ didn’t just love those who followed Him, He loved and offered His mercy even to those who nailed Him to the cross.

   In the Lord’s Prayer we ask that He “forgive our transgressions as we forgive those who transgress against us.”  This implies that if we refuse forgiveness we will not be forgiven.  This beatitude is very similar; if we refuse mercy to others, we cannot expect mercy to be shown to us.

   Regardless the offense or hurt caused to us by others, we are to plead that the Father will have mercy on them.  For those who refuse to accept God and reject His ways, we must pray for mercy.  Though we are not worthy the Lord loves and has mercy on us.  As Christians we are to pray for God’s mercy toward others.  We must have mercy; it is the Christian thing to do.

My God, I thank You for Your great mercy.

You have loved me though I am unworthy.

As You have loved and had mercy on me.

May I have love and mercy for all Your children.

Amen