Be Merciful

 

    Being merciful is displaying or executing mercy.  It is something you do to show mercy.  It is giving someone else relief from something unpleasant.  Mercy is living out compassion.

    It is easy to get caught up in the day to day.  It can take effort to remember that God has a bigger plan than what is happening right now.  We will always have obstacle, but we will only have moments in the life to really connect with other people.  We should not let obstacles stop us.

    When we find forgiveness in our heart, then we invite God's favor into our lives.  There is a direct link between forgiveness and blessings because you release all the animosity and find freedom.  God will use what other people do to hurt you to make you who you are.

    God uses other people in your life to give you strength, show you mercy, and bring life into perspective.  We just need to be open to allowing God to work in our hearts, minds, and lives.  We can look at pain as a tool to prepare us for something harder or to make us stronger instead of allowing it to turn into bitterness.  It is your choice on how you choose to allow it to shape you.

    Pain can produce divine benefits like education, awareness, refinement, make your more sensitive, endurance, build determination,, make you usable, strengthen, rely on God, or even placement in life.  Sometimes you have to get really uncomfortable before you are willing to change.

   Being merciful is part of what brings us to God.  He wants you close to Him.  He won't change the past, but He can change how you view the past.  He can use your painful past to enlarge your future.  He can turn what was ugly into something beautiful.  That is part of His mercy.  

    Jesus's birth was only one part of the story, but it was one of the most important parts to show us mercy.  God has been showing us mercy since the beginning of time.  He will not stop showing us mercy until our time is up.  He does not abandon people.  We abandon Him.  That is why we need to learn that mercy and forgiveness go hand in hand.

Genesis 50:15-21, Deuteronomy 4:30-31, Psalms 78:32-39, Matthew 5:3-10