Unlimited Mercy

Fortunately for us, God gives unlimited mercy.  We as human begins tend to have a problem with this concept and limit our mercy to others according to the situation.  As usual, God is our example in giving mercy.  Jesus shared this idea in the parable of the unmerciful servant found in Matthew 18:21-35.  When Jesus said we are to forgive (show mercy) seventy-seven times, he meant times without number…not once…not twice…not seven times, but unlimited times.  

Talk about a challenge!  But what a blessing follows that challenge.  In Matthew 5:7, Jesus tells us, “Blessed are the merciful , for they will be shown mercy.”  That means mercy now in this life and mercy forever in heaven.  It’s also very important to remember that mercy is not getting what we deserve  and grace is getting what we don’t deserve. 

Jesus closes the parable in Matthew 18 with the challenge to “forgive your brother from the heart.”  Now that’s real forgiveness.  That’s real mercy – the mercy God wants us to give freely to our brothers and sisters in this world.  It’s the mercy that God showed us when he gave us his son Jesus.  It’s the mercy that Jesus showed us when he went to the cross, knowing he was going to die. 

What if God limited his mercy to us?  We would have a huge problem!  Praise the Lord for blessing us with His mercy. Now let’s be a blessing and show mercy and forgiveness to those around us the way God first showed mercy to us. 

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for your unlimited mercy.  Help us to follow your example and show mercy and forgiveness to others whenever we can.  Thanks for your love.  We love you.  Amen.

Do we deserve the blessing?

Matthew 5:3 – “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  

What does it mean to be “poor in spirit?”

Of all of the beatitudes that Matthew provides in the opening of Chapter 5, perhaps this one does the most to show the amazing generosity of our Lord.   

Contrast it, for example, against the other beatitudes, in which the people who are being blessed are mourning or under persecution.  Or they are seeking peace and righteousness, being merciful and pure of heart.

In our human minds, we may rationalize that such folks deserve to be blessed – they have either been treated unfairly or are trying hard to do good things.  But poor in spirit?  This seems to include people who struggle deep in their souls to keep much goodness stored in them.  People who are failing to keep their thoughts pure and their actions good.   Do these people deserve a blessing?  And what kind?   No less than the Kingdom of Heaven?

I must admit that there was a period in my life when I felt my spirit was in a very poor condition. 

But it only makes God seem that much greater when we he reaches out to us when we least deserve it.  Jesus Christ took the action and paid our debt in its entirety.   No matter how poor we have been, or can still sometimes get, we are free to stand before God as his precious children.

Perhaps there is a reason why the “poor in spirit” beatitude is the first one.  All of the ensuing blessings are only possible because Christ first loved us.   

Prayer

 Dear Father.  Thank you for loving me unconditionally.  Please fill up my tank when I weaken in spirit.  Thank you for the rich blessings and the good works you have prepared for me in advance.  Amen.

Blind Vision

To be honest, my heart blurs my vision. My anger against others keeps me from seeing clearly. Instead of looking for reasons to rejoice in them, I look for reasons to feed my resentment. I look for ammunition against my brothers and sisters so I can confirm that I was right about them all along.

And guess what, I never fail to find that ammunition. Nor do people ever fail to find ammunition against me if they look for more than a moment.

Do you know why we look for fault in others? It’s so we won’t have to notice our own faults. Looking for impurities in someone else keeps me from noticing my own impurities, including my impure motives.

We look for the bad in others, something that’s usually not all that hard to find, then we can feel better about ourselves. And we try to make ourselves look as good as we can in the eyes of others by hiding our own faults. We put our religious good deeds on display so no one will see our misdeeds, in hopes that others will feel better about ourselves.

We usually hide our impurities under a lot of false veneer, good looking good works that we do more for our own good than anyone else’s. But all that does is mask our impurities and distort our vision of God. We’re no longer looking to Him to be our Savior because we’re too busy trying to save ourselves.

But if, by the Holy Spirit’s power, we can get our eyes off of us and fix our eyes on Jesus; we will see that our good works are not necessary for our purification. Jesus has already purified us by His good works and His sacrifice on the cross. And appreciating His work for us, we will appreciate His work for others.

Our good works will be transformed so they’re not for our good but for the good of others. We’ll begin to look at others with an eye for building them up not tearing them down.

Focusing on the purity Jesus provides, we’ll notice that our motives become more and more pure. And, instead of people seeing us so much, they’ll begin seeing more of God when they look our way. Why? Because we won’t be pointing to ourselves and we won’t be pointing out the faults of others. We’ll be pointing the way to Jesus.

BE A PEACEMAKER

You know how we all want a PIECE of the pie.

It is amazing but we already have a PEACE - a PEACE in Jesus Christ, who died for each one of us.  We were all forgiven and taught that we should forgive even those that we don’t really care for or get along with.  God gave us his best gift: His SON, FORGIVENESS and ETERNAL LIFE.  It’s a gift that he wants us to give away to others.

Have you ever seen the movie "Pay it Forward"?  It’s about someone doing something for someone else expecting nothing in return. It could be as little as putting a quarter in the slot at Aldi's  and then giving your cart to someone else when you leave.  Or while you’re in the drive thru at your favorite fast food restaurant you could pay for the car that is in line behind you. It is awesome to see the look on their face when this is done.

As it states in Matthew 5 "Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven.”  We can rejoice in bringing the peace of Christ into the hearts of others, showing them the reward awaiting them in heaven.   

 Dear Jesus, please be with each of us to have the Peace you gave us and for us to pass that Peace onto those who have not found it yet.  " Blessed are the Peacemakers, because they will be called Sons of God. Amen