Jesus said, “The merciful are blessed, because they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7). While not a direct command, the implication is clear: we should all show mercy. Our response to wrongs against us must not be like that of the world. Revenge should be a motivation foreign to every follower of Jesus. Each of us will suffer their fair share of injustice in this world.
As my mother told me from an early age, “Life is not fair”. Thank God for that! Imagine if it were. As my friend Aaron Pelsue sings in his song, “Mercy,” “I deserve all the worst, yet you offer mercy.” Jesus does not exact the punishment we deserve from us, so we should not seek to right the far more trivial wrongs committed against us (Romans 12:19).
If there was true justice in this world, we would all be dead (Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23). And I don’t mean just a little dead as in no longer breathing. I mean dead in the sense of dwelling in the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41). While the thought of dying in this world may frighten you (it shouldn’t if you belong to Christ), the death of the soul is a far more frightening reality.
Death in this life is not the end (John 11:25-26). We will all rise again, some to life, and some to a final death (Daniel 12:2; John 5:28-29). Most will fall into that second camp, and that is horrifying (Matthew 7:13-14). It’s one more reason to show mercy to those who don’t believe. What’s coming for them is far worse than what they will ever do to us.
A merciful boss overlooks an indiscretion and allows an employee to keep their job. A merciful judge may impart a lighter sentence to someone who shows genuine remorse. But the all-holy God demonstrates the ultimate mercy by offering us eternal life instead of the Hell we deserve (Romans 6:23).
When Peter asked Jesus how many times we should forgive those who wrong us, Jesus told the parable of the unmerciful servant (Matthew 18:21-35). In a nutshell, the story tells of a man who owed more than he could ever repay, but his master forgave the entire debt. In return, the servant went out and demanded full repayment of a tiny debt from his fellow worker. He did not show mercy and when his master found out, he sentenced the man who had received mercy to be tortured without end. It is a picture of the Hell awaiting all who despise the mercy of the Lord (Matthew 18:34-35).
If we comprehend the mercy God lavishes on us, it will compel us to offer the same mercy to others (Ephesians 2:4-5; Ephesians 4:32). The thankfulness we have in receiving such mercy will change the way we live. God expects us to be holy as he is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16). As inexhaustible mercy is part of God’s holiness, we must show mercy as He shows mercy.
Until we grasp what Jesus did for us on the cross, we will never understand mercy (Titus 3:5). We will never be capable of offering true mercy to someone who wrongs us. Forgiving someone to make ourselves appear to be the bigger person, or hoping to get something in return, is not mercy. But forgiving them a wrong knowing they are getting away with it and we are receiving nothing in return? That’s the mercy God gives to us. It’s the same mercy He expects us to extend to others (Luke 6:36).