Are You Willing to Show Mercy to Others?
“The LORD’s love never ends: His mercies never stop. They are new every morning. LORD, Your loyalty is great.”- Lamentations 3:22-23
Every day God shows us how great His mercy is. He is willing to forgive us, provide us with our daily needs and even causes the sun to rise and set on people who hate Him (Matthew 5:45). He is very merciful unlike us. Unfortunately, we struggle to do the same because we are sinful people who want justice when someone wrongs us. We should not expect justice every time because we do not know what is going on in a person’s life or what they intentionally meant to do.
If God is willing to show mercy to us, then why can’t we do the same? The answer is that God is perfect, holy, patient, and loving. One example of God's mercy was to Jonah and to the people of Nineveh. Jonah was like us; he did not want God to show them mercy because he knew God was merciful and the people would change (Jonah 4:1-3). God explained to him that He cared about the people and wanted them to repent to be spared from disaster (Jonah 4:10-11).
Jonah warned them, they stopped worshipping false gods for about 150 years until God’s mercy ran out and their capital was destroyed (Jonah 3:10). That goes back to 2 Peter 3:9 which states, “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” Hopefully, we can reflect God’s goodness by being patient and showing mercy to others as well.
Prayer of the day:
Dear heavenly Father,
We struggle to show mercy to others. It is hard to do because of our sin. We want justice for ourselves but not for others. It is only by Your power that we can be merciful. Help us to be like You in everything we do including forgiving, loving, and showing mercy. It is not easy but with You and the Holy Spirit, it is possible. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!
