One of, if not my all time, favorite verses from the Bible are Jesus' words in Matthew chapter 9, verse 13 - "I desire mercy, not sacrifice". Five little words, yet they say so much.
God is hardly interested in what I can give up for Him. After all, one does not need to know God to have willpower. I dare say there is no small number of people who do not know Him at all who have no shortage of it. Lots of people are capable of self-denial to get what they want - losing weight, quitting a habit, life style changes, getting ahead in school or work, etc. No, willpower is not what He seeks from me anymore than it is what He seeks from you.
Mercy, on the other hand, is a different story.
But what is mercy?
Mercy, is basically grace with a bit extra added on to it. Real clear definition there Troy.
Consider this: you have an acquaintance whom has stated a need/want. Now you know this person somewhat well, and know that they tend to take advantage no small amount of the time. They seem to live the saying "get an inch, take a mile" - taking all they can when the opportunity affords itself. Allowing others to do what they perhaps should do themselves. We all know people like that - it may even be us from time to time.
So what is our response to them when they ask? If we choose to say "no", what are our reasons?
"Why should I help them? They were not there for me last week."
"I have to do this alone, why should they get help?"
"They are just trying to take advantage of my good nature."
"Serves them right to have this happen."
"If they were more like me..."
Any of those sound familiar?
Here is the fun part - those responses (and many others like them) drip heavy with resentment, bitterness and spite. You may have noticed the lack of the terms "love" and "mercy". If any of this is hitting a "chord" then good, we all need our chords hit now and then.
Love and mercy would dictate that we help - without expecting ANYTHING in return for our efforts - in spite of the fact that they may not deserve it or that we may be taken advantage of. Only God may judge the heart - theirs and ours alike. We are not to look for the mercy we show to be returned to us by any person on the planet - our mercy is given to us by the One who has it freely to give in abundance.
"I desire mercy, not sacrifice"
Great. You have enough willpower to deny yourself that chocolate bar or to force yourself to work out longer or to follow whatever little rule list you can find to follow. Good for you.
Now try this out - forget about yourself for a change. Forget all about what you think you deserve, what the world owes you or how much you had to strive and suffer whenever. Look at those around you. We have all felt pain. We have all worked and fought through this life. Should not seeing another human being struggling through life on this fallen world fill us with compassion? The deep desire to show the love of our God to someone who may be in a place we know all too well ourselves? To show love and mercy. After all, we do not deserve ANY of the mercy we are (and have been) shown. We are saved by grace, not by works (Eph.2:8,9).
A final note from the book of Jonah: "Do you have a right to be angry?"
(Hint - the answer has two letters, starts with an N and ends with an O).
