Practice mercy.

Good Morning, Friends.

What should be our response to the poor—those who are ‘without’—widows, orphans, the needy, the afflicted? It
starts in our hearts. Let’s ask God to purify our hearts .
. . “O God, we want to have clean hands and pure hearts before you. Show
us your heart toward the poor, and grow our hearts to be more like
yours, Lord of Heaven. Amen”

I am first of all reminded that it was to the poor Jesus came. He was birthed in a stable, to a simple young
woman and a carpenter from a small, no-count town called Nazareth. He
called fishermen to be his closest friends and ministry partners. After
emerging from the desert, where he fasted and was tested for 40 days,
this represented his early teaching:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, (humble) for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, (hurting) for they shall be comforted.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Matthew 5 – several of the
Beatitudes

Jesus once stood up in the synagogue and said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has appointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He
has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight
to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden . . . from Luke 4

Mercy is not required of you until you see someone who needs it. The
first step in truly caring is taking the time to ‘really see’. No
one ever ‘saw’ like Jesus. Others strolled by the
infirmed like they were part of the dusty street, Jesus saw their pain,
he saw their needs—he extended mercy in whatever form was required.

MERCY. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

James said, ‘judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful.’1

Oh, then let’s freely give mercy, and be merciful people. Look… and actually
SEE! And, then what? Show mercy as you are
able, and as is required. That might be a smile, it might
be my second-base playing son just plowed over by a baserunner, turning
around and helping him up, instead of calling him a name. Yeah,
that would be mercy.

Some of us have the wherewithal to give ourselves over to greater mercy. It
might mean finding a way to serve the poor, adopt the orphan, tutor the
less-fortunate child, or visit a shut-in. We all have our
seasons, though, so maybe your way to give to the needy is to give of
your means—like if you have more money than time right now, find a
meaningful ministry, and support it.

Either way, I challenge us to begin to open our minds and our hearts to the less fortunate. Jesus
set aside his royalty for the squalor of the manger—for you, for me. Paul
wrote, “For you know, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that though
He was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor, that you through his
poverty might become rich.”2 If we let it,
that grace—the grace of Jesus Christ—will change us, will transform us,
so that we “grow in looking away from oneself and toward God on the one
hand and one’s neighbors on the other.”

No matter our means, no matter our time constraints, can we strive to be people of
mercy?

I shan’t forget the findings of two young So. California men who researched how non-Christians felt
about Christians… it wasn’t good. They found that
‘outsiders’ find Christians to be mostly hypocritical and judgmental—not
very loving.4 In short, they found them to be very unlike
Christ . . .’shocking? What is the remedy? How
about learning to be a whole lot slower to judge, and a whole lot
quicker to offer kindness, and a hand up.

Come on, we can all do that.

“So many Christians are so bored. So many Christians are so frustrated by the gap
between their theology and reality. The way to close the
gap, and the way to experience that holy rush of adrenaline again, is to
break a sweat serving others.”5

Okay, but maybe we’ll have to practice a little first . . . on our way to holiness . . .
let’s practice acts of tender mercy.

Christine