How can christians today show mercy

This takes some patience - because we all have our own quirky behaviors! The truth is, this kind of mercy will take you a long way in marriage. In Luke 10 , Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan to make a point that helping the hurting around you is the meaning of mercy. Maybe this week God will put someone in your path who has a physical, emotional or financial need and is unable to help themselves in this matter.

Will you extend mercy? Or will you rush around them? When someone hurts you, we often want to either get even or write them off. But the Bible says in Ephesians that we should be kind and merciful, forgiving others as God forgave you because of Christ.

While there may be little mercy or civility in our society today, the Bible instructs us to show mercy by giving people what they NEED, not what they deserve. When one person demeans another, the recipient will often react negatively and hurtfully, giving more grounds for hard feelings, a pattern of conflict gradually escalating as the lists of wrongs grow longer. One the other hand, a display of kindness can spark a reciprocal positive word or action, and mutual encouragement can be become a constructive pattern.

It is difficult to avoid getting into the negative downward spiral when feeling attacked, judged, or hurt. Yet in the Kingdom of God , we are asked to put aside how we are treated by others.

Jesus said:. There is never a doubt that despite our sins, if we choose to follow Jesus—and therefore to extend mercy toward others as he does—we have the hope of eternal salvation.

But what does it mean for us to show mercy? By the atoning sacrifice of Christ a way is open for the exercise of mercy toward the sons of man, in harmony with the demands of truth and righteousness. We need mercy in the misery of sin. We need to show compassion to others who are sinners, even when their sins might be against us, replacing condemnation with love. It is more than forgiveness—it is restoration. So how can we pass on the mercy we are receiving from God? What displays of mercy have you witnessed lately?

Compassion is very broad! Because so many of us suffer under these institutioned laws, we need compassion from one another. Christianity is something that happens to us at the very center of our being, and from there it flows out to the activities of life. God has never been interested in only the blood of bulls and goats. He has never been interested in any superficial spiritual activity unless the heart is right. The beatitude relating to mercy address an inward heart attitude, but it also relays how we are called to relate to others.

So it follows that if God has granted us mercy, we will grant mercy to others. Johnson quotes MacArthur again in his definition of mercy:. Mercy is seeing a person begging for love and giving him love. Mercy is seeing someone lonely and giving him company. Mercy is meeting the need, not just feeling it. Mercy shows up in our relationships: friendships, family, marriage , parenting , work, people we meet, etc.

Our natural tendency is to act in sinful, selfish ways; it is only with a transformed heart that we can truly be merciful toward someone else. However, there is a righteous pitying which Stephen displays in Acts :.

Prodding also has a negative association in that people tend to find prodding by others to be annoying.