Mercy Mercy Me

Hosea 6: 6 NIV
For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.

Mercy has never been the way we think of one another, it is how we act with each other. The question before us is not, “what should I do to be merciful”. It is rather, “who should I take into my life and mercy”. I used to think I had to feel sorry for someone if I were to be merciful. I don’t believe God feels sorry for any of us and yet He is our standard for mercy. He does not look in on my thoughts and grimace over how bad I have it or how poorly I am treated. He looks in on me and despite how nastily I have treated Him and how warped and self-centered my outlook, He dies for me. In a sense the crucifixion is over but in another sense it never is. Jesus was for a moment in time bound within hours and minutes but He is eternal and the crucifixion is lived out in Him forever too. There is that part of God that we fail to recognize. Time is always now and in that sense, He dies for me today just as certainly as He did the moment two thousand years ago Jesus hung upon the Cross next to two warped and corrupted thieves. Mercy of God is now. Who can you mercy today? Happy are the merciful for they shall receive mercy…