The Golden Rule of Mercy
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”
(Matthew 5:7)
Beloved,
Would you agree
with the following statement “You have to give respect in order to get
respect?” Would you give respect to someone who does not give you respect? I
believe most of the world functions this way. People treat others how they have
been treated. Although this is not all
bad, it is not biblical. Jesus gives us the “golden rule” in Matthew 7:12, “So
whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the
Law and the Prophets.” Jesus summarizes the Old Testament in a succinct,
powerful sentence. Jesus does not say, “Treat others as they have treated you,”
but rather “Treat others the way you want others to treat you.” If you miss the
difference, you will miss mercy.
Mercy is defined
as compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power
to punish or harm. When we are mistreated, we have the power to punish or harm
them with treated them as they have treated us. But when we treat others as
they have treated us, we forget the compassion and forgiveness God has shown
towards us when we mistreated him. Merciful people understand that they have
received mercy. We do not treat others in the way they have treated us, but we treat
others the way God has treated us. When we faced an insurmountable debt, God
showed us mercy by withholding punishment we rightly deserved and placing it on
Jesus Christ. We will forever be debtors to mercy.
If we are not
merciful towards others, then we cannot expect to receive mercy from God. Jesus
says, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” As the merciful
will be blessed in receiving mercy, the cruel, unkind, mean, and unforgiving
will receive wrath. We treat others the way we want God to treat us and the way
God has already treated us in Christ.
When we demand
respect before we give respect, we are forgetting the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Beloved, God wants you to be merciful to the world as a witness to the mercy He
has extended to you. Let us know known as a merciful people for, “Once you were
not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy” 1 Peter 2:10.