1/9/26- Mercy For The Merciful

Hey there! Happy new year, y'all. I hope you're off to a good start going into 2026- it's been an interesting week for our little family. I've been cleaning out a house at work and getting the property ready for prospective tenants, my wife has been doing her usual work stuff, and we've begun doing a one year reading plan in our Bibles (which we’re already struggling to keep up with, unfortunately). All in all, it has been a pretty pleasant week. 

This week, she and I both listened to a sermon from Blessed Hope Chapel in Simi Valley, California, called Mercy Triumphs over Judgement. It's been deeply impactful. Long story short. Pastor Joe takes pains to express the great importance of practicing what we preach in regards to mercy. It is all well and good to say we love God, but do we hate our brother? If we do, we are in darkness and we are murderers (1 John 1:11; 3:15), but if we walk in love, in deed and truth, “We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him…” (1 John 3:19) To be merciful is to share the the love that was shared for us; Christ did not come into the world to save the righteous but the unrighteous- not the healthy, but the sick. (Mark 2:17) Put another way, He came for us while we were still helpless, demonstrating His own love for us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6;8) If God Himself is willing to demonstrate that kind of love and mercy, who are we to withhold it? Have we so quickly forgotten whatever hole He pulled us out of, or our own desperate neediness of Him? Currently, a favorite book of mine is 1 Timothy, and I particularly love chapter one, verses 15 and 16: “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance,that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.”  Among whom I am foremost of all. Do we have this attitude towards ourselves? If not, then it is no wonder that we struggle so greatly to show mercy to others- we have forgotten or trivialized the mercy that has been given to us. In response to this realization, I want you to remember the Lord’s Prayer with me for a moment: “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.] For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.” (Matthew 6:9-15) I promise you, this is difficult for me, too. When my wife and I get mad at one another over simple miscommunications, neither of us wants to admit fault and apologize and forgive, but we have to. Even if the other one isn’t asking for forgiveness, we must forgive. Why? Because it was offered to us without asking, and we will be measured according to the measure we have used. When my brother or sister offends me or I offend them, it is not my place to hold judgement over their head indefinitely, but to seek to repair the damage and forgive or receive forgiveness to the glory of God. One of the parables discussed in the sermon that helped spawn this post is the parable of the Wicked Servant (that narrows it down, right? 😂) You know the one; it comes immediately after Peter asks Jesus how many times he ought to forgive his neighbor. This is the parable Jesus told in partial response: “23 “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24 When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25 But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. 26 So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’ 27 And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ 29 So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ 30 But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. 31 So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. 32 Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ 34 And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. 35 My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.” (Matthew 18:23-35) God takes forgiveness seriously, and so should we. The wicked servant wasn’t unforgiven the whole time; he was forgiven and then forfeited it later through his own hard-heartedness towards his fellow servant. God delights in showing mercy (Micah 7:8) but He also expects that we, when we receive it, delight in it as well. Are we any different from the rest of the world when we cling to our petty little reputations and honors and dignities? Are we any better than the unbeliever when we got to bed angry with our spouse, friends, or family? No, not at all; we are being just as wicked as everybody else, and we need to repent. Do you know how much a talent or denari was worth? A denari was a days’ wage, so we could say that servant two owed a hundred days’ wages- a pretty substantial sum, for sure. A talent, though, was (as best as I can find) equivalent to about 6,000 days of labor. Just one talent. That hits just under 16.5 years, vacations and weekends included, worth of debt for servant one, the wicked servant. God is right to hold us accountable is we refuse to show mercy and forgive others, when He has so clearly illustrated the vastness of the debt that we owe to Him and His goodness in absolving us of it.

I hope this has been encouraging to you, and if not, that it has been as convicting for you as it has been for me and my family, and that it will point you back to Christ. We all will struggle with showing mercy at times, but it is deeply important that none of us give in to a long-standing, unmerciful heart that breeds hatred and unforgiveness. We need hearts that are willing to say “I am the foremost of sinners, and I have been shown mercy. I am the man who owed 10,000 talents, and my debt was erased.” Let me encourage you, my brother or sister, to ask the Lord to give you the ability to be merciful to those who have caused you harm and forgive them. The new year just started; lets strive to leave old hurts and wrongs in the past and give the present and future to the Lord so that His love may be evident in our lives.