Mercy Freedom

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "How many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"

Thus began Greg's message today about God's mercy. He talked through the parable that Jesus told about the unmerciful servant in Matthew chapter 18. You know, the one where the king forgave him of his debt of millions of dollars and he turned around and wouldn't forgive a fellow servant of a few dollars of debt? The king found out that the servant put the other guy in prison because he owed him a few dollars and the king said:

"You wicked servant! I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had mercy on you?" In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

And at the end is quite a statement that Jesus makes:

This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.

Okay all that to set up this next part. Greg then brought up the time that Jesus healed a paralyzed man lowered through the roof of the house. Jesus said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven." The interesting thing to note here is that he didn't heal the man immediately. Evidently what this man needed more than grace, was mercy. He needed to hear that his sins were forgiven. That all of his angst towards God, all of his life apart from Yahweh, every dirty little thought, ungodly endeavor, and every wall he built trying reach God with religious fury was all forgiven. The mercy of Jesus washing it all away, erasing his peppered slate. He needed to know Jesus on a personal level before he needed to know that God could heal his physical afflictions. He needed to hear that his disagreements with God were naught before he needed to hear he would be able to walk.

I think that I get the cart before the horse sometimes. I think people would like to hear about the grace of God and how wonderful He is by giving us things we don't deserve. And yet more and more I think people need to know about the mercy of God, the withholding of His judgement on them. They need to know that, "Hey, you know every disagreement you have towards God? Well, He forgives you." What a mind job! I think that is a big part of what changes people's lives. To know that out of God's love for us and in order to have a relationship with us, He is the one that takes the hurt and says it's okay.

I know I am not that merciful. And even when I am, sometimes I still think bad thoughts on them. Occasionally God will give me a gift of mercy and I can let go entirely of someone's offense against me and forgive them from my heart. But I'll be honest with you, it isn't the norm. What really makes me stop and think about how much I take for granted my relationship with Jesus is when Jesus said, "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart." Do I really have to do it from my heart, Lord? Can't I just go through the motions and SAY I forgive them and not act on it? Isn't that good enough? No, I need to forgive from my heart

The funny thing is, if I don't forgive from my heart and I hold onto the offense, it makes my life worse in the long run. Forgiveness and showing mercy is a powerful act of freedom. It gives the one forgiving power over the offense done. Which also gets me out of the victim role. Because if I can forgive that person of the wrong done to me, I can rise above being a victim of it. It also gives me freedom. Unforgiven offenses turn into bitterness, and bitterness is a bitch. It nags at me and wraps chains around my arms, legs, and throat. By showing mercy and forgiving from my heart, I take the power from the offense to rule over my life, which grants me the liberty to thrive in relationship with the person from whom the offense was given.

All that to say, I am working on being a more merciful man. Or rather, I am allowing God to help me be a more merciful man. Sorry for the lengthy post. If you got it, good. If not, let me know.

Love and deuces,
Mark