Mercy mercy mercy

I watched “The Greatest Story Ever Told” again the other night and although I had seen the movie several times, I still enjoyed it very much. One of the things emphasized in the movie was that God desires for us to extend mercy to others. Time and again Bible-based incidents of Jesus admonishing the Pharisees and others for not being merciful were related throughout the movie. One was the woman who was caught in the act of adultery and the crowd wanted to stone her to death as the law required. Jesus told them that the person among them without sin should cast the first stone. The crowd dissipated rather quickly with the oldest leaving first.

How many times do we cast stones? It is rather easy to point out the faults of others and/or get caught up in gossip, isn’t it? We must remember always that Jesus is merciful and desires that we be the same. We all sin and sin is sin. Yours is no cleaner than mine or the person you ‘look down’ upon and vice-versa. Extend mercy to your fellow sinners and do not set yourself up as a judge. The Bible states unequivocally that if you do, you are in danger of being judged using the same standards. God is the judge and He will administer punishment. It will be fair and if vengeance is required He will administer it in His own good time including throughout eternity. That is God’s role and our role is to obey His commands and spread the good news that Jesus is merciful and regardless of our sins we can have salvation.

Lighten up and realize that no person is perfect including you. Jesus is the only person who ever lived that lived a perfect life without sin. If we could be good enough to live a life without sin, then it would not have been necessary for Jesus to die on the cross. We could just be good enough to get into heaven. Alas that is not the case, but thank you Lord Jesus for your mercy towards us sinners and making that terrible sacrifice on the cross whereby You paid the price for all of our sins out of your kindness, love and grace…


Matt. 7:1
Judge not, that you be not
judged.
For with what judgement you
judge, you will be judged; and with
the measure you use, it will be measured
back to you.