Righteousness and Mercy
‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.’ (Matthew 5:7)
What’s your attitude toward someone who has sinned? Whether it’s someone who doesn’t know the Lord at all or a Christian who has fallen, how do you feel toward the person?
If your reaction is that you can’t believe they did what they did, and if you’ve thought, “What a loser! I thank God I would never do something like that!” then it tells me something about you.
On the other hand, if your heart is broken, if you’re concerned for the person’s situation and want to help them get back on their feet again, it tells me that you’re a godly person (see Galatians 6:1).
A happy person will be forgiving and merciful. Jesus said in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). The statements of Jesus in the Beatitudes have a specific sequence; one leads to another, which leads to another, and so on.
First, we see ourselves as we are. Then we mourn over our condition. Next, we become meek and empty ourselves, and we find a new hunger for God Himself. Then we become people of mercy. Because we have experienced mercy, we want to extend it to others.
A litmus test of our real condition before God is whether we have gone through these steps.
The more righteous someone is, the more merciful they will be. And the more sinful someone is, the harsher and more critical they will be. Show me a person who’s always condemning and nitpicking and I’ll show you a person who’s not walking closely with God.
If you’re poor in spirit, if you’ve mourned over your condition and know what it is to be meek, if you hunger and thirst for God, then you will be merciful.
And if someone isn’t merciful, the question is whether they know anything about the mercy of God themselves.
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