Matthew 5: 7 ......... Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Let us not, as often happens, confuse mercy with grace.
Grace is God giving us what we do not deserve; it is by grace that we have been saved. Whilst mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve; because of our sinful lives we deserve to go to hell.
God has extended to us great mercy. He has not condemned us, He has forgiven us. Through the blood of Jesus Christ, He has redeemed us and cleansed us. We have become sons of God and co-heirs with Christ.
We see from the Beatitudes that Jesus wants us to be merciful in the same way as we have been shown mercy and in doing so we will be blessed.
He does not want us to be judgmental. In fact, we read in the bible in the epistle of James 2:13 that, ‘mercy triumphs over judgment’, however, ‘judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful’.
Mercy, therefore, is a key element in our Christian life and in our Christian character. As Christians we are to reveal Jesus to others not only by what we tell them but also by what we show them.
Christ in us is not only the hope of glory for us but for other too. We give others hope when they see His character in us; His love and His non-condemning, non-judgmental nature.
Thank you Jesus for your mercy that is new every morning. Amen.
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