"Sarah, hurting people hurt people." I listened to what she said but as I walked away I thought to myself, "I'll never let my heart become hard like hers." I was young and untested.
Jesus' commandment seems so simple,"Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful." (Luke 6:36) But what I have found out is that mercy is messy. It's messy because often people who need mercy are hurting and wounded and they don't respond in the way I think they should. Once I spent the day driving someone around who didn't have a car trying to find aid for them. At the end of the day I found they had emptied my wallet.
My husband and I have opened our home many different times to many different people each time I have discovered new things about who I am. The pressure of having other people in my home did not cause me to have a hard heart it just exposed the hard heart that was there all along. When people said to me, "I couldn't do what you're doing." I found myself thinking, "I can't do it either!"
According to Unger's Bible Dictionary, "mercy" is defined as: "a form of love determined by the state or condition of its object. Their state is one of suffering and need, while they may be unworthy or ill-deserving. Mercy is, at once the disposition of love respecting such, and the kindly ministry of love for their relief." What I have discovered is that when I reach out to others with a desire to be merciful I expose my own need for God's mercy.
Lord Jesus, You told those who wanted to follow you to be merciful even as the Father is merciful. Thank You for showing me who I really am, thank You for loving me even though I am unworthy and ill-deserving. You are the healer of my hardened heart You meet me where I am and my weary soul finds it's resting place in You. Lord Jesus, help me share with others the mercy You have shared with me and help me to always give with a humble heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment