Five Minute Friday…yes, it’s here again! You know the rules if you have been here very often. If you don’t, look at them on the Five Minute Friday page.
GO
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.Micah 6:8 NIV
What is required of us?
Living justly
Walking humbly with GOD
Loving mercy?
How do I love mercy?
I don’t think it is talking about my loving to receive mercy
Everyone loves that!
I think it is talking about loving to give mercy.
In association with a lifestyle that shows I am a just person.
Someone who is fair.
I walk humbly with GOD
I realize how small I am compared to Him…
And it humbles me!
But loving to give mercy?
What does that entail?
Helping those who can’t repay me? STOP
Loving the poor in ways that help them
Not in ways that ease my conscience…or make them leave me alone!
Showing the love of Christ to those around me who are broken and in pain…
Sometimes to those who may not look horribly bad off,
but inside they are suffering, just like the poorest person on the street.
In giving mercy, I am putting aside my preferences and agenda
for the benefit of the other person.
I give mercy because I have been shown mercy
from my gracious Heavenly Father…who is also just.
Kyrie eleison.
Wonderful and very thoughtful post.
My grandma taught me that you give your best…..I was about 6 and had a special doll I loved.
I also has about 2 other dolls. Grandma was collecting things for a family that had lost all in a fire. She came to our house and she told me there was a little girl my age and she hoped I would share a doll. I pulled out one of the older dolls and she told me that would not do and explained I should always give my best. Feeling smug I asked her respectfully if she gave her best and with a tear in her eye she said she had…the china from her grandma. That made it easier for me to give my doll and all her clothes grandma had made for her.
Flash forward to December of that year. There was a extra box for me from “someone who love you”.
There was a most beautiful doll and a wardrobe to go with her. I knew it was from grandma because of the fabric used for the doll clothes.
I learned a lesson that year….and I have always given something that was special to me. I look at it like this….God gave His only Son so we can have Eternal Life. That was His best.
great story donna. as long as we give our best knowing we have already received His best, we will be fine.
if we give our best hoping to receive something back, even if it is a good feeling, that is not mercy.
I hope it did not sound like I suggested that at all. I was taught to always give never expecting anything back. Grandma taught me mercy through this. Maybe I will add I was raised Mennonite and servant-hood, compassion, love and mercy were so important we learn early.
i don’t know what motivates anyone. i answer generally, knowing how easy it is to go to the darker motives of my own heart because I don’t know many of my readers personally. the answer i gave was merely to clarify for all readers. frankly, all of us have times when we would be hard pressed to even admit it to ourselves…but it is so easy to have that little twinge that thinks in the background, “i hope i get something in return.”
maybe you never have those struggles, but as much as I hate to admit it, I do. that is why i mention those details in my answers.
I struggle with lots of motives in many other areas. In this area I do not struggle. Except that I have a hard time understanding why people refuse to show mercy or give to the poor. That is just as wrong on my part. I will striving to work on balance in this area. This has shown me I show little mercy on those that do not extend mercy. I love when we see where we need to change….it is painful but on the other end we are more loving and can show more mercy…. Thanks for making me think
you were fortunate to have a grandmother that helped you grow in this area. not everyone has that. others of us have had people who helped us grow in other areas.
for many, extending mercy to people that are very different from them is difficult and uncomfortable. we need to give them room to grow…to give mercy realizing that it isn’t always comfortable.
by GOD’s grace, i do hope to stimulate thought here. i know i like to read people who stimulate my thinking in new directions. always glad for you to drop by donna:)
Oh yes Martha. What a wonderful and uplifting post. Thank you!!
thanks debi. these days, i’m learning so much directly or indirectly at church that i can’t keep up. right now in our sunday school class we are studying a book called WHEN HELPING HURTS by Corbett and Fikkert. this church has a lot of mercy ministry involvement based on this paradigm. very thought provoking:)
loving to give mercy is not always an easy task; sometimes those that look the “best” are the ones in need of mercy the most. Great thoughts!
true christine. if we aren’t aware of our own need of mercy at a very deep level, our effort to give mercy will be very superficial. the perfect illustration in Scripture was certainly the Pharisees.
they knew a lot about the Word but were trying to obey it in their own strength. the only way to obey it in their own strength was to water down the truth of the Word of GOD into a list of rules that avoided their hearts completely! it was burdensome, but they trudged along and obeyed this list of rules. why? it satisfied their love for applause now.
unfortunately, in their quest to obey perfectly, they missed all the people around them who needed mercy and justice…in a good way. when jesus brought their attention to the true state of their situation, what did they do?
did they stop, consider and repent of their ways? NO. they got together to conspire to kill Him! self-righteousness can be so insidious and so evil!
they had no desire to have Him clean out the inside of their cups that looked so good from the outside!
i think jesus’ point is that if what we are doing is genuine and from a heart that knows how much mercy it has received…the mercy we give will not be a burden, but will be the genuine thing. not perfect for sure, but genuine…which is rarely neat and tidy:)
Love your thoughts here, especially this bit “Loving the poor in ways that help them Not in ways that ease my conscience…or make them leave me alone!” Ouch! 🙂 I’ve thought a lot about this verse and how we naturally love to see others receive justice and love to receive mercy ourselves. I’ve been praying that God would help me to love to see and give mercy as much as I like to receive it! Thanks for sharing today. I am blessed!
Tina
thanks for visiting tina. we moved in april and are at a different church. these comments reflect comments i’ve been hearing at our new location. they challenge me as i look around and try to learn what GOD wants me to do in such a needy place.