Thursday
Read – Matthew 5:7
SOAP – Matthew 5:7
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
We are called by God to practice mercy: to forgive others, to be generous, to empathize with the hurting, to offer aid to those who need help. We are given this calling because God has been merciful to us. We are the recipients of the greatest possible mercy: Jesus taking on the sins of the world and sacrificing himself so that we could be redeemed. Even our existence as the people of God is merciful. We have been gathered from all the corners of the world and granted the privilege of belonging to God’s kingdom. As people defined by the mercy we have received, we must extend mercy to others.
We can practice mercy by being generous with our time and resources, by forgiving other people when we are wronged, by giving people second (and third and fourth) chances, and by providing for the suffering, even if we don’t think they “deserve it.”
God, thank You for being merciful to me! You are good and gracious, and I am constantly in need of Your mercy. Help me to seek out opportunities to practice mercy with the people in my life. Give me the strength to extend mercy when I don’t want to.