Be Merciful

“Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” -Luke 6:36

Jesus is not a weak Savior begging us to be like God, but a mighty Lord commanding obedience. The King has purchased His people, and He claims complete ownership over you. As King, Jesus commands us to be merciful. What is the measure of how merciful we are to be as people? What example, definition, likeness are we to imitate and be merciful? King Jesus says, “as your Father is merciful.”

When I think about how God has been merciful to me a sinner, my heart swells. Oh, how ugly has my mind, my heart, my words, my actions have been! Yet, God has treated me with undue kindness. In my joyful obedience to the Father, the source of my own mercy in heart is to look no further than the merciful heart of God Himself. 

God is “rich in mercy,” and by His great love for us He is rich in kindness and slow to anger (Ephesians 2:4, Psalm 145:8). The objects His rich mercy are sinners deserving quick anger. His merciful kindness isn’t simply in words, but His mercy is a relief to those in misery. In Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus described the Samaritan’s response to seeing the beaten man alongside the road as “being moved with compassion” (Luke 10:33) and proved to be in obedience to God’s command to love his neighbor having “showed mercy.” Then Jesus commands, “Go and do likewise.”

Do mercy by being a relief to those in misery. Be slow to anger toward those deserving quick anger. Be rich in kindness. Be forgiving. Be gentle. Be meek. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. These are the marks of the renewed heart of the one having put off the old and put on the new creation in Christ. 

Are you a safe place for the miserable to find relief? Are you a safe place for sinners deserving your temper to find a rich kindness? Are you a neighbor showing mercy? This cold, dark world must have Christians with blazing hearts driven to glorify the merciful Father by showing His mercy! Display God’s perfect patience and be rich in kindness and mercy, dear chief of sinners, for that is God’s reason for showing you mercy (I Timothy 1:16).

Heavenly Father, forgive my prideful, arrogant heart of any boasting in my lack of showing mercy! Be a relief to my sinful, broken heart according to Your rich kindness. Relieve my heart to be merciful as You are merciful to me and to all sinners who seek refuge in the mighty Christ. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Walk in Wisdom Toward Outsiders

“Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” -Colossians 4:5-6

Being kind to those outside the church is a command of Christ. To be gracious in the way we talk to them, kind and humble in our stance toward them, even stating biblical truth or opinions on life in a non-combative, caring way. We don’t lean forward like a pikeman in a charge to battle, but we walk and talk gently like a messenger. 

Kindness in our wise walk in life is against what comes naturally to us (Galatians 5:20). To keep in step in our wise walk in the Spirit who gives us gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-25) means we must have new desires. Naturally, we desire to win debates. To be right. Yet, the goal of our conversations or persuasion of others in biblical truth or opinions on life is to glorify God. We glorify God by having our speech gracious, seasoned with salt, so we know biblically wise answers to each person.

The wisdom Jesus commands us to walk in must have a sense of rest and peace to our hearts. Not angry, not anxious, not hostile, not “hyped up.” Our new heart has a calmness from which we speak. If our heart treasures Christ, we receive peace, joy, gentleness, wisdom to speak from the abundance of our hearts. If our heart treasures self, we will even fight for biblical truth with unwise fierceness and display Christ as hostile and bitter. Our Lord Himself called us weary sinners to come to Him for He is “gentle and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29). If you lack wisdom in your walk toward outsiders, ask in prayer for wisdom (James 1:5).

The follower of Jesus is to speak gracious and salty; in other words, founded in God’s grace and possesses a warm, inviting character. Not from a sharp personality that pushes people away to protect yourself, but warm and open to outsiders. Outsiders should hear gracious words and smell the aroma of the love of Christ (II Corinthians 2:15) which fills your heart, be attracted to tasting and seeing that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8), leaving judgment to God by the very same aroma rather than from a hostile stance or tone in our speech.

“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Proverbs 15:1). May we be found faithfully wise in our walk, gentle and lowly in heart, gracious in our speech to those living in darkness, where we ourselves once were but by God’s grace are no longer.

Heavenly Father, search our hearts, examine and confront any hostility to Your wisdom. May our tongues be gentle and not sharp or a flame. We are Your messengers of Your gospel. Grant us wisdom. Make us useful by Your grace and use us for Your glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Grace When You Are Unraveling

“In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From His temple He heard my voice, and my cry to Him reached His ears.” Psalm 18:6

Some of our greatest griefs are when others depend on us being strong, but we’re falling apart. I have to be strong as a dad and husband, as a pastor and friend. To be able to be trusted in feels good. What happens when others depend upon me but I’m unraveling, my heart aches or has become numb, or I find little rest in my mind?

There are people who need me. If I lose sight of my Lord’s grace, my pride will let that sentence make sense. People need me. Am I sovereign over creation? Where was I when God laid the foundations of the world (Job 38:4)? Do I have secret wisdom that I alone can give? Do I alone have power that God’s creation depends on and needs?

Although the Lord uses me to be a means of grace to others, encouraging them in the faith, discipling or caring or comforting or counseling or teaching, the Lord does not need me. Rather, I need Him. No moment teaches this glorious truth of my need for God than when I am unraveling, breaking, falling apart in the midst of others depending upon me.

When others need me rather than God in and through me, that is a problem. I don’t have the energy, strength, wisdom, or ability that God alone has. If I am not dependent upon God, and celebrate that dependence on Him, then I will unravel and break apart. 

However, in your distress, in your unraveling, you call open the Lord for help. Your tearful pleas reach His ears. He doesn’t turn away from you simply because you are unraveling. He knows those depending on you to be strong are in need. He is the only Savior. He comforts, guides, counsels, corrects, teaches, loves. 

Parents who struggle, knowing you are depended upon, remember to depend upon the Lord yourself. Pray. You don’t need eloquence, just a cry for help. When you are needed at work and needed at home, remember you are in need of the Lord’s help. When life, relationships, jobs, money, whatever wears you down, depend less on those things to sustain you. God’s grace sustains you and preserves His people (Psalm 55:22).

Are you unraveling now? Weep. The Lord who will wipe away tears for the last time (Revelation 21:4) hears your cry for help from His temple. He draws near the brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18). He mends. Are you growing weary in doing good? Remember Galatians 6 is about carrying each other’s burdens as a church family, directing our attention to depend upon God together. God has given us each other to depend upon Him, and we rejoice in our dependence upon Him together.

Heavenly Father, forgive us for believing in our own strength and ability, as well as our pride believing we are needed. You are needed Lord. For the sake of others, bless us by Your mercies. For the sake of Your name, hear our cries in times of distress, rescue, lift, and carry us. May You be glorified in and through us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.