Today I want to talk about the power of MERCY.  Mercy is deeply rooted in love, and when I think about it, it makes me think of one of my favorite verses:

1 Peter 4:8 – “Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.”

Love covers a multitude of sins!   God’s love, through Jesus, has completely covered our sins and wiped the slate clean.  But 1 Peter 4:8 is highlighting that when we choose to love other people it covers a multitude of.  By cover, it means to both wipe out and to prevent.  Think about that for a moment…How can loving somebody prevent sin?

This leads us to another verse, which is really saying the same thing.

The last part of James 2:13 says, “Mercy triumphs over judgment”. 

To me, these two verses sound very similar.  Love covers sin, mercy triumphs over judgment!  But before we take a deeper look at this, let’s understand what Mercy and Judgment are.

According to the dictionary…

Mercy – Is choosing not to harm or punish somebody who has offended you or is your enemy. It is showing a level of kindness that is unexpected.
Judgment – Is the process of forming an opinion by examining or comparing and then criticizing or condemning someone from a position of assumed moral superiority.

So, let’s dive into this idea that mercy triumphs over judgment with a few stories.  Let’s start with a modern-day story, then we’ll look at the Bible.

There was this kid in America.  By all appearances, he had a fairly normal life and a decent family.  The reality though, was that he had experienced some abuse as a young child, and his parents had been married and divorced several different times.  So as the kid got older, he began to use drugs.  Drugs made him feel better and helped him cope with life.  However, drugs quickly took control of his life and he became a slave to them.  His whole life became focused on getting high and feeling good.  To meet this need, he didn’t care who he hurt as long as he felt good in the end.

He wasn’t a nice person.  If there was something he wanted, he would take it.  He was a thief and a drug addict.  He was a bully and a cheat.  He used to use chewing tobacco, and would spit in a cup.  That cup would sit in his car for days, sometimes even weeks.  One day while driving down the road, he saw a boy from his neighborhood riding his bike.  As he drove by, he threw the cup full of spit on the boy and laughed.  This was a perfect example of the kind of person he was.

As his addiction grew stronger, he began stealing more to buy his drugs.  He would spend most nights breaking into cars and taking people’s things, even from people he knew.  Eventually, he went to prison.

When he got out of prison, his life remained the same; spiraling out of control.  One day, through a miracle of God, this boy (now age 20) walked into a home group Bible study for the first time.  As he walked in the room, he was shocked to see the boy he had thrown spit all over!  As he scanned the room, he recognized people he had been nasty to over and over again.  They were all Christians!

This group of people had every right to cast judgment on that boy, and he was waiting for them to do it.  But it never happened!  Instead, they welcomed him into their group and once a week for 3 months they prayed for and with him, and studied the Bible with him.  Nobody EVER said anything to him about the terrible things he had done.  They chose mercy over judgment, and it changed his life!

Today that boy is married and raising his children in a Christian home, something he didn’t have.  Today that boy is a man, living with his family in a foreign land called Turkey.  Today that man is writing this blog, sharing his own story of mercy triumphing over judgment!

You see, not only does mercy triumph over judgment, but the ripple effect mercy causes, lasts through generations!

Now, let’s look at the story of Joseph, from Genesis Chapters 37-50

His brothers sold him and told his father that he was killed by a wild animal
He becomes a slave to Potiphar.
But Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him.
So, Potiphar had him thrown in jail.
While in jail Joseph interprets 2 dreams for 2 of pharaoh’s servants
One of the servants would die, the other would be forgiven.
The forgiven one forgot about Joseph for 2 years!
Finally, pharaoh has a dream, and Joseph is called from prison to interpret.
God once again blesses Joseph and he becomes Pharaoh’s #2 man
Then Joseph’s brothers show up
Now we get a picture of mercy triumphing over judgement

Joseph had every right to cast judgment on his brothers, and he had both the power and authority to do it.  When we read the story, we can see that it wasn’t easy for him…he struggled through to the final decision.  But in the end, he looked at his brothers and he showed them mercy.  He forgave them.  Have you ever thought about what might have happened if Joseph didn’t do this?  What would have happened to Israel?  How different would our history have been?  But again, we can see the ripple effect mercy has made.

Genesis 50:20 “You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.”

Finally, how about the story of God’s mercy; His mercy toward us?

Scripture says:

That we were “dead in sin!”
That we were “enemies of God”
In a sense, we were just like Joseph’s brothers

So, what did He do?

Ephesians 2:4-5 – “But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)”

God’s mercy is rich!  That means He has storehouses full of mercy ready to pour out over us whenever He needs to.  How merciful is He?  While we were still dead in our sins, He sent Jesus.  He didn’t wait until we cleaned ourselves up or stopped sinning, He was proactive to offer a solution.

Romans 5:8-11 – “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.  And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.”

God, by His own will and not by anything we did, chose to show us mercy.  When He did this, several amazing things took place.  It says that, “we have been made right in God’s sight”.  His own mercy, caused His view of who we were to change.  Now, because of the Mercy He showed to us, He now sees us as right in His eyes.  Not only does he see us differently, but He changed our position from “enemies” to “friends” and made our relationship new.  Wow!

So, what does this teach us?  God has shown each one of us great mercy by covering our sin with His love; by beating our judgment with His mercy.  This is an unchangeable truth that we can draw hope and encouragement from.  His mercies are new every morning, we just have to wake up and breathe them in!

It also shows that when we choose to show mercy, instead of casting judgment, that God will change the way we see people and facilitate a change of their position.  Once their position has changed, they will begin to see themselves differently and change will happen.  Relationships will be healed and restored, lives will be changed, and the ripple effects of mercy will carry on and on.

Next time you’re having a difficult time showing mercy, ask God to give you a glimpse of the ripples that will come if you do.  Mercy triumphs over judgement and His Kingdom wins!