Ah, mercy! We all love to be recipients of mercy, especially when a police officer stops our mad rush down the road and a ticket looms. But me give mercy to another? That seems hard, unless we allow scriptures to “tune my heart to sing thy grace”.

Jesus said Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful, so this isn’t optional. Jesus identified theweightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith, so mercy is a big deal with God. In fact, Solomon spoke of mercy (and truth) as lifelong pursuits: Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man. Do you sense the need?

The Bible identifies some practical areas where mercy can, and should, be demonstrated. God’s Psalmist wrote I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed. Here, God’s people help others in their acute distress. (Our budget includes a diaconal fund for just such purposes.) Proverbs says a righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. Yes, we ought to be kind to our animals, but notice how Jesus references this OT passage, when He said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Jesus’ healing a man on the sabbath day typified the healing of a soul unto salvation.

In particular, saints as the elect of God are to put on bowels of mercies, … Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Some have said “mercy is God not giving us what we deserve, and grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve.”