Open HandsSample

The Hand of Mercy

My hands are busy. I am married to my high school sweetheart Martin and our home stays in a constant state of chaos as we try to raise our four-year-old daughter and twin two-year-old boys! In addition to that, I write songs, serve at my local church and travel all over the nation for events each year, almost always with our three kids in tow! I love my life, but I am very busy.

There is a story in Luke chapter 10 of two very busy ministers. You may have heard it called the story of the Good Samaritan, which would have been quite the oxymoron in their day. The Samaritan, the despised half-breed Jew, stopped to help this beaten and dying Hebrew, took time to bind up his wounds, spent money to put him up at an inn till he recovered. The message here is as plain and compelling to the original hearers as it is to you and me today.

Am I too busy to show mercy? Are my hands too full of my own good works, my own agenda, my religious activity, to see those hurting around me? Lord, open my eyes to the greater call to extend mercy, to live in light of the mercy you have so richly shown to me.

Can you think of two areas within your circle of life where there is an opportunity to be a good Samaritan? Take a step in the direction of mercy and see what God might do in and through your life.