Have you ever made a mistake, a mistake for which you deserve punishment and yet it was withheld? When we mess up, when we fail, and instead of immediate criticism, instead of condemnation, we are given the opportunity to learn and be forgiven, then we can grow. With mercy comes freedom, freedom to act and believe that mistakes and failures will be forgiven, freedom from guilt that once kept us in chains or beating ourselves down for past errors. We are all imperfect human beings, the Bible tells us “There is not one righteous” (Romans 3:10), and yet there is a righteous God. God in all His righteousness is forgiving. He is merciful when we do not deserve it, in fact the very nature of mercy implies that it is undeserved. The Oxford definition of mercy is, “compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.” Doesn’t this sound like God with us? An all powerful, perfect being, and yet because he is all loving, and “wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4), He withholds judgement, and instead extends to us the arm of mercy. As sinful human beings the justice due to us is death. It is written, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20), (note it doesn’t say to suffer eternal torment or burning hell fire, but simply die). However, while “the wages of sin is death…the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God in His mercy gave us Jesus Christ, to die for our sins, and so that through him He could extend grace and mercy to us so that we could have life - true life!
Let’s take a closer look at God's mercy. The scriptures tell us, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23). His mercy is abounding and waiting to be imparted. He is willing to forgive if only we ask. God is a God of mercy and love, wanting to give us relief if we come before Him, humble ourselves and accept it. Sometimes the difficulties in recognizing the mercy and grace of God is not in the fact that He is unwilling to give it, but on our end, our difficulty to comprehend and to accept His forgiveness. He is ready to forgive, He desires for us to get up, learn from our errors and do better in the future, “for the righteous falls seven times and rises again” (Proverbs 24:16). But we must be willing and trusting that God will continue to be with us, and He helps us rise again.
An element of accepting mercy is humbling ourselves to the recognition that we need mercy. The guilt or exhaustion of life can be too much to bear at times, but if we bring it to the Lord, even though we may feel like there is nothing we can do, we want to change but can’t, want to be better but keep falling short, it is then that God works in us, “for my [God’s] power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9). David is called “a man after God’s own heart” and yet he certainly committed sins and errors and writes of such moments openly stating, “I acknowledged my sin to you and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.” (Psalm 32:5). Let us not say our sin is beyond forgiveness, or our daily mistakes beyond the correction and mercy of God, or try to hide our mistakes from God. God knows all our ways, all the mistakes and transgressions and yet He loves us anyway, because His love for us is not dependent on our goodness, but on His character. He knows everything, everything we try to keep hidden, or feel we don’t know how to correct. He knows and wants us to bring it before Him in order that He may help. We can rest assured that we are not too far gone for the mercy of God. Remember we are told to, “seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.” (Isaiah 55:6,7).
We are undeserving of this mercy, and yet he will FREELY pardon! Like the parable of the ruler who forgives the debt of his servant, freely letting him go (read Matthew 18:21-35 for the full story). The mercy of God has been extended to us in this age through His son Jesus Christ. “He saved us, not because of our own righteous deeds, but because of his mercy” (Titus 3:5). This is mercy: underserved forgiveness, and this is grace: underserved salvation. Through the gift of Christ, human beings can be reconciled to God, we can call upon Him and be heard. This concept in itself is an extension of mercy, of understanding that if our salvation and life depended on us, we would likely mess it up time and time again, we would fall, get confused, and stray like lost sheep. God knows all this, that we, even those who appear to have everything figured out, continually need His guidance, need a greater meaning and purpose, and in His mercy we can come day by day back to Him when we finally recognize where we have fallen short, and be assured that His way is better than our way. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9). Through the sacrifice of Jesus, God’s mercy is manifest and is a constant state we can abide in.
We’ve talked about what mercy is as a concept, what God’s mercy is to us, but what does mercy mean in our own lives - when we have the opportunity to have mercy on others? The mercy we must have for one another is of the same nature of the mercy that God has for us. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:43-45). Here Jesus tells us plainly, to be children of God we must love and give mercy in the same way he does. This means showing mercy to all, if God is so loving that he continues to give blessings and grace to both the righteous and unrighteous, then as children of God we are called to have this same level of mercy for others. In the way we forgive we will be forgiven. In this statement God balances his perfect mercy with his perfect justice. He withholds the justice of the punishment we are due, and rather demonstrates his justice in judging us according to how we judge others, in a way putting the ball in our court. He sets the standard of perfection, perfect love and perfect condition, a state which no human will be able to achieve in their flesh, and for which we NEED God’s mercy and grace through Christ’s robe of righteousness, covering our own sins and providing us with the chance to achieve this standard not on our merit, but on Christ’s perfect sacrifice. In such a way, through Jesus, God’s justice is fulfilled, and His justice is motivated by His mercy. Likewise, His mercy forgives our sins, and yet His justice requires that if we do not extend this same love to others, we ourselves will not be forgiven. “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:14-15). God wants to show us mercy, and also wants us to be quick to show this same mercy to others. “Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” (James 2:12-13). The two pillars of Jesus’ commandments: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31). Mercy is twofold: we must ask and then accept the mercy God has imparted to us, and then we must impart that same mercy to others. Love God and love your neighbor.
In the words of Jesus, “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matt 9:13