I don’t know Louise or anything about her. I do know that she is not the only one who needs mercy. I find that the more intimately that I know God and the more clearly I see him in Scripture, the more I realize that I need mercy. I suppose that if we are just comparing ourselves with one another, I might quickly remind you that I am really not a bad guy. No skeletons. No horrible, wretched sins in my track record. (As I say this I can feel the pride of focusing on what seems to me to be a pretty good life). Yet, all of that is really only a pathetic attempt to justify myself and make me look good before others.
Its interesting how much energy we spend reminding one another that we are really pretty good people. We remind one another that we really do have good hearts. When someone repents of sin and has obvious remorse, we may feel so uncomfortable that we tell this person that they are really not bad persons. I have seen people publically repent of sin only to be told by friends, "I don’t know why you said those things about yourself. Why you’re not a bad person."
No– I need mercy. I know that what is in me is often unlike the character of God. No need to rationalize my thoughts, my motives, and my desires. The truth is, I desperatly need God’s mercy.
So what is the hurdle? Pride! You know how difficult it is to ask for help. Have you ever had to ask for financial help? You probably said something like, "I really hate to ask you for help. It is so hard for me to ask help. I will pay you back next week." Yet with God’s mercy, you can’t pay it back. You are in spiritual poverty without his mercy. There is no payback! I desperately need mercy. My pathetic and feeble attempts to prove that I am able only serve to rob me of being a mercy reciever and consequently a mercy giver.
Imagine–Imagine what we would be like as Christian people if we each had a deep sense of desperatly needing God’s mercy. Much of the sin that I have witnessed as Christians mistreated Christians is rooted in no-mercy. I think that this is more than not showing mercy. I think that it may be rooted in not seeing that we are desperately needing mercy.
May God have mercy on us all.
After reading your post I found these quotes.
Blessed are those who show mercy.
They will be treated mercifully.
-Matthew 5:7 (God’s Word Version)
“Mercy is like a rainbow, which God hath set in the clouds; it never shines after it is night. If we refuse mercy here, we shall have justice in eternity” (Jeremey Taylor).
Jim, my prayers are always with you and I will be praying for those of us that ask for mercy but have not been able to set our own selves free.