The Bible represents mercy as “active compassion.” Compassion is sympathetic concern for those who are suffering. Our two best examples of showing mercy come from God and His son Jesus.
Jesus’ life was filled with active compassion – teaching, healing the sick, and raising the dead. The Scriptures say he lost energy and strength when he healed. In Luke (6:19) we’re told “Everyone was trying to touch Jesus, because power was going out from him and healing them all.” This means that there was a cost to his mercy – he allowed his power to be drained out of him because he cared so much for the people who were suffering.
But we shouldn’t just be merciful to only those in trouble or just to the people we love. In Luke, (6:35,36 NIV) Jesus says, “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back…Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
This means we want to have love, mercy and compassion even for those who are mean to us or bully us. We also should not ignore those in trouble, but instead do all we can to help them, as it says in Galatians (6:10 NIV) “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
As Christians, we should be working hard to improve our characters every day. Mercy is just one of the qualities God wants us to develop. Jesus says in Matthew, (Matthew 5:5-8 NIV) “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
God is extremely merciful. He gave his son Jesus as a ransom for Adam (WATCH OUR VIDEO, WHY DID JESUS HAVE TO DIE?) so that every person who has ever died will live again in His future kingdom. We are thankful that His entire plan of salvation for the whole world is so loving and merciful.
So, what is mercy? We show mercy when we are “actively compassionate,” helping others and being kind even to people who mistreat us. Let’s look for opportunities to be merciful to others today so we can develop characters that are pleasing to God.
This video is from Christian Questions Podcast. For more information please go to https://christianquestions.com
