CHRISTMAS MERCY: PART 2

“[God] has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.” – Luke 1:54-55

Mary sang about God’s mercy in her song of praise before Jesus was born. In sending his Son, God was showing mercy to a dying world. This mercy extends to everyone who puts their faith in Jesus and what he accomplished on the cross. So we see that the Christmas story is all about mercy.

Now, the same God who has shown such compassion toward us—who has forgiven not only those sins that we are willing to talk about, but also the secret thoughts and intentions of the heart that we have kept hidden even from our loved ones—that same God wants us to extend the same mercy to others.

The problem is that we desire mercy when it comes to our own shortcomings, but we focus on justice when it comes to the sins of others. We say, “He did me wrong… They never apologized… I was in the right… It was her fault; not mine…”  Then, we are reminded that when Jesus was on the cross, he said, “Father, forgive them…” (Luke 23:34); and that he also taught us to pray, “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us” (Luke 11:4). How different we are from the “Father of compassion “(2 Cor. 1:3).

 The truth of the matter is that none of us has this mercy in the natural. It has to come from a greater source—from the Holy Spirit who lives in every Christian. But we need to want to forgive and to ask the Lord for the grace to show mercy to others. He has promised to give it to us!

This Christmas, with all the gift-giving, why don’t we think of some people to whom we can give the gift of mercy?  Perhaps among them there is someone you’ve held something against for years and years! By extending mercy to that person through the power of the Holy Spirit, you will become more like your heavenly Father who gave the world Jesus, our Savior, two thousand years ago.