Mercy

Have you ever noticed how the teachings of Jesus tend to center around, "In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets"?  This is the honest truth, we truly should treat others as we want to be treated.  

"But what if they don't treat me the way I treated them?" Good question!  You can only control how YOU treat others, you can't control anyone else's response.  Besides, Jesus didn't say, "If they treat you in a good way, THEN you treat them in a good way" now did He?  Nope.  Jesus makes it very clear, regardless how we are treated by others, we must treat others the same way we WANT to be treated by them.

Take a look at today's verse: "Want someone to show you mercy? Then SHOW mercy to others."  It sounds simple, but we are the ones who complicate it when we follow our feelings instead of doing what we KNOW is right.  Here's a challenge I put to both of us (you and me): Let's treat each other the way we want to be treated REGARDLESS of how they treat us.  We do our part and let God handle the rest.

Faithful

The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
    His mercies never cease.

Lamentations 3:22 

 

When I was much younger, we our family vacations would take us places like Mt. Rushmore, Wall Drugstore, Carlsbad Caverns, Bandolier Cave Dwellings, the Grand Canyon and even Yellowstone National Park.  Being the constantly curious child, these places fascinated me.  The one thing that impressed me at Yellowstone, aside for seeing bears, was watching "Old Faithful" which would spew its plume of hot water every hour.  

 

God's faithful love should be our example! God loves me even when I think, say and do dumb things.  He loves me when I put my foot in my mouth.  He loves me when my acid tongue takes aim.  He loves me when I feel horrible.  He loves me when I am afraid.  He loves me when I try to please Him.  And God not only loves me but He grants me His unending mercy!  That means no matter what happens, God loves me and makes sure that everything will ultimately be good for me.

 

When my Grampa was sick and in the hospital, I prayed and prayed and prayed that God would heal him.  I prayed that He wouldn't take my Grampa from me (yes I was selfish like that).  And when I was told that Grampa had died, I was heartbroken!  I couldn't believe God would do that!  I remember being so angry at God for taking my Grampa.  I walked in to the woods behind our house determined to have it out with God.  And in the midst of my angry tears, I didn't hear it but I knew it was spoken to me: "My child I love you more than you know.  And I know you are hurting now, but your Grampa is with me now completely healed and you will, one day, be with him again.  And always remember, the same life-breath I blew into him, is also in you." 

 

Always remember, God's love is faithful and His mercies NEVER cease!

Where Do I Go From Here?

Afterward the Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is Abel?”

“I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”

But the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground! Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother’s blood. No longer will the ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”

Cain replied to the Lord, “My punishment is too great for me to bear!  You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!”

The Lord replied, “No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills you.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him.

~Genesis 4:9-15

Cain had made a VERY bad choice.  He took a life out of anger.  Cain made an even worse mistake in taking the life of his own flesh and blood...out of anger.  When God confronted Cain, notice how Cain's sarcasm is used as a defense: “I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”

When you are dealing with God, it is NEVER a good idea to use sarcasm, especially as a defense regarding our own actions.  God called Cain out on the fact that Abel's very lifeblood cried out to Him from the dirt, and Cain knew it was over.  God pronounced His judgement and told Cain that from here out, life was going to be painful.  

But also notice something about God's Mercy!  When God's judgement is pronounced, Cain told God that his life would be too hard for him to live.  People would kill him if they found out that he took a life, especially his own brother's life.  And as a wanderer, he would be left to fend for himself which would leave him vulnerable to thieves, bandits, and thugs.  But God's Mercy is shown when He tells Cain that ANYONE who does him harm will be punished SEVEN TIMES worse than anything they had done to Cain. And to prove His point, God put a mark on Cain.

Have you ever messed up SO badly that you thought your life and usefulness were over?  Have you even made such a bad decision that you wondered how you would ever recover? I have.  It's not a good feeling at all!  You wonder why God even allows another breath...yet He does.  Is it for His own grins and giggles watching our torment?  No.  God has two reasons for keeping us here: 1) So we can learn from our mistakes and, thus, help others to avoid making the same mistakes, 2) Because God is in the miracle business and can make diamonds out of lumps of coal!

You see, we demonize Cain for his rash decision and for just being a bad guy.  But God uses Cain's story to remind us that, even though we mess up and must accept the consequences for our decisions, God is STILL merciful to us!  He doesn't have to be, but loves us so much that He rains down His mercy on us every day!