Being Happy in an Unhappy Worldಮಾದರಿ

Mercy is the first external evidence the world can observe to verify that God is at work on the inside.

If there is no mercy in the house of God, then the glory of the Lord has departed. There is no peace, no joy, no love. Without mercy the church is a tree with no fruit. It’s a well without water. It’s a cloud without rain. Without mercy, the church becomes nothing more than a religious country club.

The Greek word for merciful is eleémón, which means “to be beneficial.” It is God’s will that every church be beneficial — a blessing and positive help — to those who walk through its doors. Those attending should go home in a better condition than the one in which they arrived, having been in the presence of a merciful God and His merciful people.

Of all the principles of happiness that Jesus proclaims in the Beatitudes, this one is the most appealing, the most important, and the most difficult.

It’s important because it’s prima facie evidence that we are becoming like God the Father. We are never more like God than when we are showing mercy.

God is merciful toward us and expects us to be merciful toward each other. He commands us to love Him with all of our heart and love each other as we love ourselves.

It’s difficult for us to show mercy because we are inherently lovers of self. But mercy requires that we learn to love others and to value their welfare more than our own. Happy are the merciful and dare to show kindness in a cold, jaded world. Happy are those moved by compassion to action. These are the people who shall obtain mercy from the God of all mercy.

Jesus is mighty and merciful.

Mercy drove Him from the balconies of a perfect Heaven to a sin-saturated earth. It was tender pity for humanity in its sin, its misery, its darkness, and its hopelessness that moved His heart to demote Himself from being the Crown Prince of glory to become the son of a Jewish carpenter living under Roman oppression. Mercy compelled Him to lay down His life as a ransom for many, making eternal life possible for all who believe.

Pray today and ask the Lord to make you more merciful.