Catch Up With Rhonda...

Mercy Me
a devotional by Rhonda Rhea

I don’t have the spiritual gift of mercy. After a couple of minutes of comforting one of my children after a boo-boo, I’ve almost always had to fight off the strong urge to say something like, “Look, there’s no bone protruding through the skin. Unless this thing needs a tourniquet, it’s time to get over it and move on.”

While mercy is not among my spiritual gifts, one look at my husband will tell you he’s oozing with the stuff. When my kids were younger and got sick in the night, they would consistently take the long way around my side of the bed to get to his side. Then they would say something like, “Dad, I think I’m going to….” No need to explain how that scenario would end, right?

In the middle of one night as we were changing the sheets on our bed, Richie cracked a smile and said, “You can tell by the mattress who has the gift of mercy in this house.” He can be especially witty at 3 A.M. I answered, “Hey, I may not have the gift of mercy, but I don’t think I’ll be losing much sleep over it—over here on my nice, clean side of the bed.”

My natural tendency is to excuse any lack of compassion I may notice in myself because, “that’s just not my gift.” But I’ve also noticed God’s word gives me a different message about mercy, and that even those of us who aren’t specifically gifted in mercy are still called to be merciful. Yes, there is the special spiritual gift of mercy, but all of us are instructed to show mercy and compassion. Luke 6:36 is clear:  “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

I’m commanded to show the same kind of mercy my Heavenly Father shows. Wow, take a look at his mercy! It’s the very reason I have new life. “In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).

I’m instructed to be merciful as the Father is merciful, and the Father, according to Micah 7:18, delights to show mercy. He doesn’t merely show mercy. He loves showing mercy. If that’s not clear enough, Micah 6:8 spells out my life instructions:  “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Not just show mercy. Love mercy.

What about the consequences of refusing to be merciful? The scripture isn’t quiet about that one either:  “Judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!” (James 2:13). Who needs extra judgment? Not me. Mercy is the winner over judgment every time.

One of the triumphs of mercy is blessing. Did you notice mercy made it to the Top-Nine list of “blesseds” in Matthew 5? There is great blessing in showing mercy. Verse 7 says, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” Okay, these particular blessings may not necessarily include a barf-free mattress. But they’re grand blessings, nonetheless.

If I try to live life with a completely empty mercy bank, at the very least it can result in some pretty meager loving, Kodak moments. But God is rich in mercy. I can go to his throne and boldly ask, then make a mercy withdrawal from his account. The amazing thing is that even after my withdrawal, he has no less mercy. He stays forever mercy-wealthy! And mercy, grace, and love are a bit of a package deal, so I can walk away with the whole parcel. It happens as I fully trust in his ability to make me the merciful person he wants me to be.

Our Heavenly Father is the supplier of mercy, grace, and love, and he is the example. Ephesians 2:4-5 says that “because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”

The Lord Almighty himself says to “show mercy and compassion to one another” in Zechariah 7:9. So that’s my mercy goal. James 3:17 also tells me it’s wise to be merciful. As a matter of fact, it says wisdom is “full of mercy.” That’s also part of my goal. Not half-mercy. Full. The kind of mercy that fully reaches both sides of the bed.

Adapted from Amusing Grace—Hilarity and Hope in the Everyday Calamity of Motherhood by Rhonda Rhea, 2003 (Cook Communications Ministries, Colorado Springs, CO), pp. 109-110.