What Does Mercy Mean?

 

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions fail not

They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

(Lamentations 3: 22 -23)

 

 

What is mercy?

Mercy is defined as,  “compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm.” It’s when we make the decision not to hurt someone just because they hurt us. To be merciful does not mean that you’re admitting someone else is right. It’s simply deciding not to make the situation worse just because you can.

 

What does this mean for me?

There’s a worldly expression that not taking revenge means you’re “being the bigger person,” but this is not what the Bible says. To be the bigger person means that you’re comparing your behavior to someone else’s. You’re saying, “They’re mean, but I’m not!” or “I’m better because I’m not rude.” Yet, the Bible says not to compare ourselves with others (Galatians 6:4). It’s not just clothes or houses or other things that we aren’t supposed to compare. It’s also our behavior.

God never tells us to measure ourselves against each other. This means that how good we are isn’t based on how bad someone else is. When we misbehave, He never says, “Well that behavior wasn’t good, but at least you didn’t act as badly as your brother!” In fact, Romans 14:12 says the exact opposite. God judges us each individually, meaning He thinks about what you did as if no one else exists!

When you’re not merciful, you’re trying to be like God because you’re deciding what behavior should be punished and what behavior should be forgiven. It also means that you don’t trust God to make the right decisions. You’re showing unbelief in His ability to help us when something seems unfair.

God never tells us that sinfulness, which is wronging (or hurting) Him is acceptable. Yet, He still continually chooses not to take revenge. To be clear, this lesson doesn’t say that’s it’s okay for someone to be cruel or mean to you on purpose. We’re talking about acting on the opportunity to take revenge, which is never necessary. In other words, it’s okay to say that someone can’t use your things because they aren’t responsible, but it’s not okay to break someone else’s things because they broke yours.

 

What do I do if I don’t like this?

It’s okay to tell God that you don’t understand why something happened; He wants us to talk to Him. However, He also wants us to trust Him. This doesn’t mean that He’s going to destroy everyone you don’t like. God is a redeemer and restorer, which means He wants to heal relationships first. There are consequences for what we do. But severe punishment for every sinful action (even the accidents) might lead to us believe that God is not merciful, which is not true.

 

Conclusion

God is merciful, and He asks us to be the same. For one reason, taking revenge is sinful in that we’re deciding who is worthy of forgiveness because we don’t trust His ability to do what is right. For another reason, He needs us to show other people who He is – not just tell them. There are a lot of people in the world who don’t love Jesus yet, and God needs us to help them understand how good He is.

 

Prayer

We are told to walk like Jesus (1 John 2:6), which means that we ask God to help us make the choices that honor Him. One of those choices is to be merciful, which can be really hard. Thankfully, God hears us when we ask Him to help us do what’s right.

 

Father, thank you that you are always merciful to me. Thank you that you’re forgiving and good, and that you always do what’s right. Give me your Spirit of peace and self-control when I feel angry so that I don’t sin against you.