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Being Merciful to Others - The Crosswalk Devotional - March 9
Being Merciful to Others
By Emily Rose Massey
“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, [t]expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:35-36, NASB).
A couple of months ago, I shared in a blog post about a situation some years back where my husband and I were unnecessarily judged with some harsh words spoken behind our backs by some former pastors. They were warning others to not make associations with us because we are “dangerous.” I offered the readers some wisdom found in Luke 6: “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:27-28, NASB).
I was trying to make the point in the blog post that instead of holding onto a grudge and allowing bitterness to form in my heart, I needed to forgive and pray for these pastors just as Christ encourages us to do. Then recently, I received an email from a reader criticizing this blog post and explaining how we can only forgive someone of the wrong that they have done to us unless they repent. This individual essentially was making the assertion that since God holds someone’s sin against them (when they are not in Christ), we needed to do the same. This argument cannot be found anywhere in the Bible, dear ones. On top of the criticism, I was accused of being prideful, not sincere, not a believer, spreading falsehoods about the gospel, and was told to “be dammed.” What a perfectly timed opportunity for me to put these scriptures on showing mercy into practice once again!
Friends, we don’t have to look very far in the scriptures to see how we are to treat others who have sinned against us (some helpful passages are listed below). In fact, Luke 6 is a wonderful chapter to reflect upon. I mentioned Luke 6:27-28 above, and Jesus repeats this sentiment again further in this same passage:
“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:35-36, NASB).
Intersecting Faith and Life:
God disciplines His children who sin (Hebrews 12), but His children are in Christ, and His righteousness has been imputed to us. As Christians, we stand forgiven before our Holy God; Our sins are thrown as far as the east is from the west, never to be remembered again (Psalm 103:12). For those who are not in Christ, yes, their sins are not forgiven, and God’s wrath is upon them unless they repent and turn to Christ. To proclaim that we are to judge someone’s sin and hold it against them would put us in the place of God. Friends, we are not God and cannot stand in the place as Judge. All have fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23), so we have no place to hold others to a standard we cannot meet apart from Christ! But we all receive mercy and kindness from God, even those who are “ungrateful” and “evil,” as Luke 6:35 tell us. Jesus commands us to be merciful just as God has been merciful to us. Although in the NASB translation, the word “forgive” is not used in Luke chapter 6, the word “pardon” is in verse 37:
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned.”
Pardon is another word for “forgive,” and “forgive” can be found in other translations such as the ESV, NKJV, and NIV. It is not wise to hold onto unforgiveness, friends. Not only can we not find any Biblical precedence for this idea that we should not forgive others unless they repent for their wrongdoing, it flies in direct opposition to what the Lord tells His followers to do: love, bless, pray, forgive, turn the other cheek, give, and be merciful. Not only does He command us to do these things that can seem so impossible sometimes, His Spirit gives us the ability to do it.
Mercy is at the heart of the gospel, and as Christ's followers, we should rejoice any time we are given opportunities to extend mercy and kindness to those who have sinned against us. This doesn’t mean that we don’t hold others accountable for their actions, ignore their hurtful and hateful behavior, or not create healthy relationship boundaries, but for the sake of our hearts, we need to obey Christ by forgiving them and loving them. Freely we have received mercy, and freely we should give.
Further Reading:
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