Love Mercy Bag

Our humble design

“He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8 NKJV

When reading this phrase of “loving mercy”, it stopped me in my tracks.  Examples of God’s love and God’s mercy are woven throughout the Bible, but when God puts them together as a command, this should grab our attention.

“To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets.” Daniel‬ ‭9‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Mercy belongs to God. Sin and shame belong to us. Daniel’s passage offers insight into Micah’s passage where God states mercy is to be loved.  Our instinct is not to practice mercy, but rather to seek justice or revenge.  Imagine for a moment if mercy did not belong to God. What if He only loves us? Being loved is wonderful, but to a sinner, no mercy would destine us all into hell.  Spoiler alert, we are all sinners.

A Christian definition of mercy is the gift of undeserving kindness and compassion from God.   Mercy is certainly a challenging discipline, especially since the offender may be justly accused. In God’s case, this would be 100% true. We are all guilty and undeserving of His mercy. However, our God is gentle. Our God is patient. Our God is love and we are so blessed that He mercifully forgives us through the sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ.

As Christians, we should rejoice as recipients of God’s mercy.  We should also give mercy to those who are offenders, enemies, and disrupters in our lives. Only God, the wisest of all, would put love and mercy together. Not only should we practice mercy, but we should LOVE practicing it! -Robbie Beman