The merciful are blessed for they will be shown mercy.  Matthew 5:7 HCSB

You can’t give what you don’t have.  A good example of this is mercy. You must receive mercy from God in order to obtain salvation. You must then extend mercy to others in order to win others to Christ and further God’s kingdom, which is the job of those who have received salvation.

Without God’s mercy we would all be headed straight to hell. Only God can grant us mercy. We must ask for His mercy in order for it to be extended to us. We are told in Matthew 6:14-15 that if we forgive others for their wrongdoing, our heavenly Father will forgive us, but if we don’t forgive people our heavenly Father will not forgive us when we do wrong.

The main reason that we withhold mercy or forgiveness is pride. We know that God hates pride. We are actually told in Proverbs 6:16-17 that God hates six things and that there are seven things that He detests. These include, arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that plots wicked schemes, feet eager to run to evil, a lying witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up trouble among brothers. We are told in Proverbs 16:18 that pride goes before destruction. Pride causes us to think more highly of ourselves than we should (Romans 12:3) and it causes us to be judgmental towards others.

We are told in Matthew 7:1-2 that we are not to judge others and if we do make this mistake that we will be judged with the same measure we use to judge them.

The next time you are tempted to judge someone or to withhold mercy, please think of what type of predicament we would be in if God did this to us. We know that we are going to be judged for every idle word that comes out of our mouths (Matthew 12:36). But we also know that God is faithful to forgive (1 John 1:9) if we will only confess our sin and repent and ask for forgiveness.

The bottom line is this, we must receive mercy in order to obtain salvation. We must confess our sins and humbly repent and ask for God to grant us mercy. Once we are granted this mercy, we must be willing to do the same for others. It is then our job to lead others to Christ and we will never do that by treating others harshly, passing judgment, or holding on to grudges.

So again I ask you, do you have mercy? Have you received mercy from God? Have you repented of your sins? If not, there is no time like the present. If so, then good for you. Keep the cycle going by granting that same mercy to others. Show them the kind of love and forgiveness that you have found in Christ.

Have a great day!