Mercy

I'm feeling a little bit convicted. I've been getting a soft whisper that has turned into a firm statement in my ear all day from our Lord. He clearly is trying to drive a point home. I hear you Jesus, I hear you!!

When I was on my way to the office this morning, I got myself all worked up. I was driving and thinking about something that someone did recently that offended me. Who and what does not matter, but I was fuming. The longer I drove the more my internal dialogue was saying "How dare you!" and getting myself all into a tizzy. This person's actions was upsetting to me and I was thinking of all the things I would say if I could let loose. I would confront this person, quote scripture, and prove that I was right, and they were wrong.

I walked into the office and checked my email. I have mentioned before that I am a subscriber to Oak Hills Devotionals. Oak Hills is Max Lucado's church, and he sends out daily devotionals every morning. It's sitting right there in your inbox, waiting to tell you something. Ironically enough, here's what Pastor Max shared with me today:

Do not try to punish others when they wrong you, but wait for God to punish them with his anger. -ROMANS 12:19

Have you ever noticed in the western movies how the bounty hunter travels alone? It's not hard to see why. Who wants to hang out with a guy who settles scores for a living? Who wants to risk getting on his bad side? More than once I've heard a person spew his anger. He thought I was listening, when really I was thinking, "I hope I never get on his list". Cantankerous sorts, these bounty hunters. Best leave them alone. Hang out with the angry and you might catch a stray bullet. Debt-settling is a lonely occupation. It's also an unhealthy occupation ...

If you're out to settle the score, you'll never rest. How can you? For one thing, your enemy may never pay up. As much as you think you deserve an apology, your debtor may not agree. The racist may never repent. The chauvinist may never change. As justified as you are in your quest for vengeance, you may never get a penny's worth of justice. And if you do, will it be enough?

So immediately after reading that, I was like "Wow, God knew exactly what needed to be in my inbox this morning!!" But that's not all. I did pretty well all day, my anger subsided and I didn't think much about it. Then this evening, Grant and I went on a walk and were talking. Again, I started getting my feathers ruffled. We came back from our walk, I put the laundry away, and opened my new Beth Moore Bible study that I started on Saturday. This is one of the scripture verses from today's study:

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God"- 2 Corinthians 1:3-4.

Here is what sticks out to me today. I have read that verse so many times. The word compassion really jumped out at me tonight. God is compassionate and merciful on us, and we are His instruments to show that same compassion on others. He is merciful on ME! How is it that I am not bestowing that same mercy on others? I look at my past, the wretched mistakes and decisions I have made, the times that I have done everything but turn my back on my Savior, and He had mercy on me! How then, am I not showing that same compassion, mercy, and grace on others?